Türkiye 3-1 Georgia: Phenomenal Güler goal gives Türkiye perfect start

There won’t be too many who would’ve predicted this to be the game of the tournament, but that’s exactly what we witnessed on Tuesday afternoon.

It was a game which had it all; goals, drama, thunderous rain and crowds and utter, utter carnage. At the end of it all, it was Vincenzo Montella’s Türkiye who took three points with three goals, but Georgia showed a lot of promise in their maiden major tournament match.

As it happened

After a Dortmund deluge and fans which rivalled the thunderous noise levels, the scene was perfectly set for what would turn out to be the most remarkable fixture of EURO2024 so far.

It was a first half that defied every single expectation. This is tournament football, after all, and it’s the first time Georgia have ever made it this far. Most teams in their situation would be cautious: keep it simple, nothing silly. Türkiye themselves might’ve been nervous too. They hadn’t won in eight months, they were woeful at the last European Championships and the hangover from that performance saw them fail to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. This was a game to grow into the tournament, a game to readjust, a game to cool down and let the pressure dissipate around them.

But where’s the fun in that? Where’s the fun in calmness or rationality? Where’s the fun in waiting for the right moment, staying structured or mitigating risk? Türkiye and Georgia were – under no circumstances – going to play it safe; and what a game we saw because of that.

At first, it was all Türkiye. Vincenzo Montella’s side kept the ball for two thirds of the first half and hit eleven shots. Georgia’s man between the sticks, Giorgi Mamardshvili, more than had his work cut out for him, as did his back three.

Besides a couple of corners from Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Arda Güler which came to nothing, the first big chance came ten minutes in. With the ball laid off to him just on the edge of the area, Kaan Ayhan smashed the ball without wasting time to take a touch. It was low, it was hard, but ultimately, it spun off the post, fizzing across the goal line before heading agonizingly out for a goal kick.

From here, Türkiye were very good at keeping the ball, but also vulnerable to counter attacks, particularly down their right-hand side. Giorgi Tsitaishvili was the main man causing them issues, finding himself in crossing positions more than once, but ultimately failing to cause the Turkish defence any real problems.

Then, after fifteen minutes of sparring, something remarkable happened. Mert Müldür had only scored once for his country and it was three years ago. Today, that changed. Ferdi Kadioğlu teased a looping ball into the area but it was met with the head of Lasha Dvali. He couldn’t head it far enough, mind, and there was Müldür, the seldom-scoring right back, just inside the box, lurking and waiting for a moment to pounce.

And pounce he did. The ball floated towards him and without a second thought he dispatched the most venomous volley into the top right corner. Mamardshvili was La Liga’s best goalkeeper last season; he couldn’t get near it. It was the goal of the tournament so far.

It should’ve been two as quickly as it was one, too, but the linesman’s flag put a stop to Türkiye’s quickfire double; Güler slid the ball across the face of goal and Örkun Kökçü helped it along for good measure to Kenan Yıldiz to tap into an empty net. Except, it wasn’t for good measure; half of Kökçü’s right boot was offside and the goal didn’t stand.

That was good news for Georgia, of course it was – but it was better news for them when they hit their equaliser five minutes later. That counterattacking potency they’d promised came to the fore, but it wasn’t Tsitaishvili. Instead, Giorgi Kochorashvili played the ball just inside the Türkiye box in the direction of Georges Mikautadze. Right on the face of goal but with Fehmi Günok still to beat, the deftest touch was all that was required to force it into the near post. Türkiye had dominated the ball, but it was Georgia celebrating and the scoreline was level.

It was easily the most enjoyable 45 minutes of the tournament so far. It was frantic and messy in all the right ways, and we could’ve seen three goals; we certainly saw the tournament’s best to that point.

Well, the best until the second half. Arda Güler is only 19, remember. His first season with Real Madrid was horribly stalled by injury, but he found form at the perfect time, scoring five in los Blancos’ last six games to spur them towards the league title. Now, with that in only very recent history, this was the right time to shine with his country.

Picking the ball up miles out, no closer than 30 yards, he took a touch to steady himself and then another to curl a devastating strike into the far top left corner. Again, Türkiye weren’t going to face an easy task trying to beat La Liga’s top shot-stopper, but there was nothing he nor any other goalkeeper on Earth would’ve been able to do to stop this strike. But this is Arda Güler we’re talking about; this is what he’ll be doing for a long time yet.

Georgia didn’t give up, though. Not long after, on 70 minutes, their best player of the match Giorgi Kochorashvili dribbled past one, bounced the ball up and past another and found himself square with Günok; but he fluffed his lines. He wasn’t quite steady, and the shot cannoned off the top of the bar and headed over for a goal kick.

They didn’t have much of the ball, but almost all the goalmouth action went Georgia’s way for the rest of the match – and they saved it until the very end.

Come the 94^th minute, Kochorashvili had one last chance… or rather, he took one last chance away from the goal scorer Mikautadze. Eight yards from goal, neither could decide who would pull the trigger. They both swiped at the ball and, in the end, neither found the target – they just found each other.

They still weren’t done just yet, though. Georgia were to lose their first ever match at a major tournament, but they certainly weren’t going to give up. Two minutes after that chance, Budu Zivzivadze had one final chance to score, guiding his effort past Günok and towards the back of the net, but not past Samet Akaydin, who dived to head it out and clear.

And then, with the corner awarded, Türkiye would have the last laugh. Giorgi Mamardashvili, who had been so good throughout so much of the match, came to the opposing box and would come to regret it. Corner delivered, Günok punched and Kerem Aktürkoğlu latched onto the loose ball. With acres to run into and an empty goal to aim at, he had no issues slotting it away to make it three goals and three points for Türkiye.

And it’s a result they needed. With this, they win their first European Championship match for eight years and dispel some of the demons of the disastrous 2021 campaign.

Georgia will be happy, too. They weren’t quite at the level of their rivals, but this was their first ever tournament match and they held their own right until the very end; if lady luck had had different intentions, they might even have left with a share of the spoils.

But, they didn’t, and it’s Türkiye who take an early lead in of Group F. It was maybe the best game of what has been an excellent tournament, and a promising start for both sides before they take on Czechia and Portugal next week – and you can keep up with both those games and so many more right here at FromTheSpot.

The lineups

TUR: Günok; Kadıoğlu, Bardakcı, Akaydin, Müldür; Ayhan, Çalhanoğlu, Yıldiz, Kökçü, Güler; Yılmaz

GEO: Mamardashvili; Dvali, Kashia, Kverkvelia; Tsitaishvili, Kochorashvili, Chakvetadze, Kakabadze; Kvaratskhelia, Mikautadze