Scotland 2-1 Georgia Glasgow, 24/03/07
Kris Boyd (12), Shota Arveladze (42), Craig Beattie (88)

A late winner from Celtic’s Craig Beattie gave a determined Scotland side victory over Georgia, and saw all-time Unofficial Football World Champions Scotland become current Unofficial Football World Champions for the first time in 40 years. Shota Arveladze had threatened to spoil his former Rangers manager Alex McLeish’s day, equalising Kris Boyd’s opener. But Scotland’s impressive second half display was enough to deprive the Georgians of the title.

Rangers striker Boyd opened the scoring in the 12th minute, heading Gary Teale’s pinpoint cross low past goalkeeper George Lomaia. Georgia created few chances, but Arveladze, now at AZ Alkmaar, stunned the sell-out Hampden Park crowd with a brilliant diving header three minutes before half-time.

The entertaining second half saw chances for both sides, with Kobiashvili and Boyd both going close. Boyd was replaced by Beattie in the 75th minute, and it was the subsitute who was the hero, poking home the winner from a Kenny Miller flick-on with just two minutes left on the clock. The match was also a Euro 2008 qualifier, and the three points keep Scotland at the top of Group B. Scotland are now the current and all-time Unofficial Football World Champions. On Wednesday they will take on official world champions Italy.

Scotland: Gordon, Graham Alexander, Weir, McManus, Naysmith, Teale, Ferguson, Hartley, McCulloch, Miller, Boyd. Subs: McGregor, Murty, Dailly, Severin, Beattie, Maloney, Brown.

Georgia: Lomaia, Khizanishvili, Salukvadze, Shashiashvili, Eliava, Kobiashvili, Menteshashvili, Tskitishvili, Burduli, Arveladze, Demetradze. Subs: Revishvili, Kvirkvelia, Iashvili,Gogua, Mujiri, Ashvetia, Siradze.

Match Reports Georgia, Scotland

Scotland vs Georgia Glasgow, 24/03/07

This exciting Unofficial Football World Championships title match sees current champions Georgia travel to Glasgow’s Hampden Park to take on all-time UFWC champions Scotland. The match is also a vital Euro 2008 qualifier. Scotland currently top Group B with nine points, while Georgia have only three points – but the improving Georgians have proved they will be no pushovers.

The match will be Alex McLeish’s first in charge of the Scottish side, following Walter Smith’s decision to return to club football with Rangers. McLeish will face off against former Bayer Leverkusen boss Klaus Toppmoller, who has vastly improved Georgia’s recent fortunes. Georgia defeated Uruguay and Turkey in their last two games. Scotland lost their last match 2-0 to Ukraine, but had previously beaten France 1-0.

McLeish will be without injured Everton striker James McFadden, suspended Celtic defender Steven Pressley, and Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher, who is both injured and suspended. Toppmoller, meanwhile, can recall his three most influential players – AC Milan stopper Kakha Kaladze, who has recovered from a serious head injury, Schalke midfielder Levan Kobiashivili, and AZ Alkmaar striker Shota Arveladze.

Former Rangers striker Arveladze has scored 23 goals this season, and last week helped AZ knock Newcastle United out of the UEFA Cup. Arveladze won seven trophies under Alex McLeish at Rangers. ‘He is a manager – he can manage the team,’ he perceptively said of the new Scotland boss this week. Of Toppmoller, Arveladze said, ‘I’ve been saying for the last ten years that we needed a foreign coach. Toppmoller is an experienced coach, who knows how to organise a team, and knows what he wants. It is still early days, but the signs are positive.’

Georgia are also likely to include former Rangers flop Zurab Khizanishvili, who is currently reviving his career at Blackburn Rovers, and Gogita Gogua, the highly-rated 23-year-old who missed out on a move to Hearts in January when the SFA rejected his work permit appeal. ‘This is a chance for me to prove I was good enough to play in Scotland,’ he says.

Should Scotland win, and become Unofficial Football World Champions, they will defend their title four days later against official world champions Italy. This potential ‘unification’ match between unofficial and official champions could see Italy crowned ‘undisputed champions’.

Seven nations have previously had claim to the title of Undisputed Football World Champions, having held both the official World Cup and unofficial UFWC title simultaneously. Italy were the first side to achieve this feat, winning the World Cup in 1938, and winning the UFWC title in 1939. Italy, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, and France have all been undisputed football world champions twice, and Uruguay and England have both had the honour once.

If Georgia retain their title, they will go on to defend it against the Faroe Islands, and will then play Lithuania.

Match Previews Georgia, Scotland

Georgia 1-0 Turkey Tbilisi, 07/02/07

A single goal after 75 minutes from David Siradze was enough to defeat Turkey and retain the UFWC title for Georgia. Siradze, who plays his club football in the German second division, was left unmarked to head home from a corner kick. It was a deserved victory for Georgia, who were on top for much of the game, watched by a near-capacity 50,000 crowd, despite missing key players Kaladze, Arveladze, and Kobiashvili.

All claims that this match between Black Sea neighbours was a ‘friendly’ were blown away by a major first-half brawl between the two sets of players – although none were sent off. Turkey have fighting form – they were involved in a notorious scuffle with Switzerland in 2005. Georgia now have 2 ranking points, while Turkey are still yet to win a UFWC match. Georgia were 5 to 1 outsiders to win this match with some bookmakers, so clued-up UFWC fans could have made a healthy profit.

Watch Siradze’s winning header via YouTube.

The next UFWC title match will see Georgia travel to Hampden Park to take on all-time UFWC champions Scotland on 24 March 2007. A full preview will appear here soon. Should Scotland win that match and take the unofficial title, their next match – just four days later – is against official champions Italy. Exciting times ahead for UFWC fans…

Georgia: Nukri Revishvili (Georgi Lomaia, 46), Georgy Shashiashvili, Zaal Eliava, Lasha Salukvadze, Zurab Khizanishvili, Zurab Menteshashvili, Levan Tskitishvili, David Kverkvelia, (Gogita Gogua, 67), Georgi Demitradze (Georgi Benashvili, 87), David Siradze (David Mudzhiri, 77), Lado Burduli (Mikhail Ashvetia, 81).

Turkey: Volkan Demirel, Tugay Kerimoglu (Gokhan Unal, 79), Arda Turan (Metin Tumer, 63), Servet Cetin, Hamit Altintop, Mehmet Aurelio, Aydin Toscali, Tuncay Sanli (Fatih Tekke, 46), Ibrahim Uzulmez, Sabri Sarioglu (Mehmet Topuz, 63), Halil Altintop (Gokdeniz Karadeniz, 46).

Match Reports Georgia, Turkey

Georgia vs Turkey Tbilisi, 07/02/07

Although Georgia and Turkey are geographical neighbours, in a football sense they seem miles apart. FIFA rank UFWC title holders Georgia 95th in the world, and Turkey 27th. But Turkey have never won a UFWC match, and Georgia comfortably beat Uruguay last time around. This is a title match that could easily go either way. The Georgian team, the ‘Jvarosnebi’ (Crusaders), are coached by German Klaus Toppmöller, and skippered by AC Milan stopper Kakha Kaladze. They will hope to welcome back all-time top scorer Shota Arveladze, formerly of Rangers and now at AZ Alkmaar, who missed the Uruguay match through injury. Schalke 04 midfielder Levan Kobiashvili was a two-goal hero in the match against Uruguay. Premiership interest comes courtesy of Blackburn Rovers defender Zurab Khizanishvili.

Turkey’s last match was a 1-1 away draw with official world champions Italy back in November, but it’s doubtful that many pointers can be taken from a friendly in which a total of 17 substitutions were made. Newcastle midfielder Emre Belozoglu could miss out against Georgia, being controversially absent from his club side in recent weeks (officially through injury) having been accused of making racist remarks during a Premiership match against Everton – he denies the claim. Turkey’s nickname is Ay-Yildizlar (the Crescent-Stars). The so-called ‘friendly’ will be played at the 59,000-capacity Boris Paichadze National Stadium of Georgia. The result and a full report will be posted here after the match.

Match Previews Georgia, Turkey