Football
PA Sport 7y

Georgia boss Vladimir Weiss confident of causing Wales upset

Vladimir Weiss has warned Wales that Georgia are capable of springing a World Cup qualifying surprise after adapting to his training methods.

Weiss -- who guided his home nation Slovakia to the round of 16 in the 2010 World Cup -- was appointed in March and has had six games in charge of the national team.

The 52-year-old has only won one of those matches, albeit a 1-0 victory over Spain in Madrid, and Georgia's World Cup campaign has started with narrow defeats to Austria and Republic of Ireland, but Weiss believes they are at a turning point.

He said: "We have had a bad start, but something has changed in the heads of our players. We play with good spirit and discipline in these last three games.

"For a new coach it is never easy coming to a new country, but now I feel like at home because the guys are talented and working well in the training sessions."

Georgia's qualification hopes already appear slim with Wales -- who lead Group D on goal difference -- Austria, Serbia and the Republic all collecting four points from their opening two matches.

But Weiss believes it has not come to the stage where Georgia are only there to have an influence on the group, rather than aiming for the 2018 finals in Russia themselves.

"At this moment four teams are leading the group," he said. "But it is just starting, it is not easy to speak about this after two games.

"We have tomorrow maybe the last chance to do it [qualify], to dream, this is very true. I hope we can take points from any team. We have quality but we must show it, score goals and play with balance between attack and defence."

Euro 2016 semifinalists Wales are without injured midfielders Joe Allen and Aaron Ramsey as they seek to build on a useful point from Thursday's 2-2 draw in Austria.

Georgia have their own problems with captain Jaba Kankava again ruled out after missing the 1-0 defeat in Dublin, although Solomon Kvirkvelia will play with a face mask after suffering a head injury on Thursday.

But Georgia have history on their side with wins in all three previous meetings between the two countries.

"We play against a semifinal team from France and this is not easy," Weiss said. "We know the history, but those games are in the past and every game starts zero-zero.

"Wales' set-pieces are fantastic, the corners are very dangerous, and the Bale throw is dangerous. But I believe we have a talented young team. We can try to make new history, but we have to go step by step."

^ Back to Top ^