Mark Langdon: Minnows making their mark at Euro 2024

One of the problems in bloating out the European Championship to 24 teams from the perceived perfect format of 16 is that in theory it allows nations without ambition to enter the tournament who lack the ability to pass to a teammate and they basically ruin the finals with their defensive, anti-football approach with a dare-not-lose attitude that makes it a struggle to sit through the 90 minutes.

Anyway, enough about England . . . let's talk about some of the real heroes of the early group stages at Euro 2024.

Albania, beaten and deservedly so 2-1 in their opener against Italy, came out swinging and were involved in an absolute thriller against Croatia on Wednesday which finished 2-2 from a game which had 17 shots on target and more drama in injury-time than England have managed in 180 minutes in Germany this summer.

Klaus Gjasula's last-gasp equaliser has kept Albania in the competition and, while they have it all on to beat a Spanish side that so far looks the best team in the tournament, at least Sylvinho's side have approached the finals in the right manner despite fears a group containing La Roja, Italy and Croatia would be overwhelming.

Albania could have sat back and tried to avoid humiliation, but they have been a credit to the tournament, just like fellow minnows Georgia, who were involved in the game of the opening round of matches at the Euros when losing 3-1 to Turkey.

"We will never give up," said their manager Willy Sagnol before the tournament and he was rightly proud of their efforts on Tuesday as Georgia hit the woodwork twice and came within the width of the post in injury-time to claiming a point against an impressive Turkish team.

The fact Georgia sent up their goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili for a corner when trailing 2-1 says much about their attitude, although the ironic aspect is that dare to dream attitude might end up costing them as Turkey's breakaway third goal damaged the goal difference which could be important if they finish as a third-placed nation.

However, Georgia have come to win games and hearts and the match with Turkey had 36 shots, three fewer than England's two matches combined with Serbia and Denmark, and putting on a show is a source of national pride because many neutrals would not have wanted them anywhere near these finals.

Georgia's qualification could not have come through more of a backdoor. Topping a soft third-tier Nations League group earned them a home semi-final playoff against Luxembourg which they won 2-0 thanks in part to an incredible moment of pure VAR drama. 

Luxembourg equalised in the second half, but the goal was ruled out for a foul way back in play which not only halted their celebrations, but Maxime Chanot was sent off and the playoff final with Greece, also at home, was subsequently won on penalties after a dire content.

Following that dreadful goalless 120 minutes it would have been a big price that Georgia versus Czech Republic would have been tagged as unmissable at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon, but here we are and I will be cheering on Kochorashvili, Chakvetadze, Mikautadze, Kvaratskhelia and co if Sagnol lives up to his promise of serving up another gung-ho show.   

"I'm convinced we are going to provide the same kind of performance against the Czech Republic," Sagnol predicted. "And I'm very excited already thinking about it."

You and me both Willy. You and me both.

Read more from Mark Langdon . . .

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