Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Denis Kurdyumov obliged against Shukura. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Tskhinvali.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Tskhinvali know it.
Amiran Tkeshelashvili and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gustavo Guedes is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luiz Felipe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sam Schiffer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Tskhinvali can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Luiz Felipe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Luiz Felipe was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.49. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tskhinvali is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Otar Kashia falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I did not go to Torpedo Kutaisi to sit and watch. I want to come back to Tskhinvali and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Jaba Chakvetadze kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
At 18 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Piruz Gabitashvili and Tskhinvali agree another 4 years.
Prezzi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luiz Felipe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Gustavo Guedes has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Shota Daraselia has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tskhinvali are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Luiz Felipe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Tskhinvali has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Amiran Tkeshelashvili trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Tskhinvali. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Tskhinvali know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgi Kvaratskhelia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tskhinvali they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luiz Felipe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ivan Lipatov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Tskhinvali, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
The dugoutDato Kashia knocks on the manager's door
The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Prezzi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Sam Schiffer has, at Tskhinvali, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Tbilisi have kept their man, and Tskhinvali go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luiz Felipe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Tskhinvali close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tskhinvali have done the hard part with Maccabi Netanya, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Tskhinvali know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dila have kept their man, and Tskhinvali go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Kvaratskhelia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Tskhinvali have made the call to Botafogo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tskhinvali have done the hard part with AS Trencin, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Prezzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luiz Felipe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Maccabi Netanya have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lokomotivi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tskhinvali is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luiz Felipe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Gustavo Guedes is 18, and Tskhinvali have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Prezzi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luca Grazzini is living that version at Tskhinvali, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Tbilisi have kept their man, and Tskhinvali go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgi Kvaratskhelia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Torpedo Kutaisi have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
A loan enquiry to Dinamo Tbilisi: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tskhinvali, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Davit Lobjanidze and Tskhinvali agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luiz Felipe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Prezzi has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tskhinvali, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Tskhinvali know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgi Kvaratskhelia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Prezzi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Saba Qazaishvili and Tskhinvali agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luiz Felipe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tornike Kirkitadze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 20-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Tskhinvali will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Luiz Felipe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tskhinvali are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Amiran Tkeshelashvili trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Prezzi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Luiz Felipe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Tskhinvali. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tskhinvali have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luiz Felipe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Davit Shengelia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad16 Nov 2026
7 new faces, and Tskhinvali are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Diego Ivo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Amiran Tkeshelashvili and Tskhinvali agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Léo Santos falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Tskhinvali will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“I watch every Tskhinvali game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kolkheti runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Tskhinvali. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Diego Ivo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luiz Felipe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Tskhinvali can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Tskhinvali. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Ivan Lipatov
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Tskhinvali can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Luiz Felipe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Tskhinvali. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léo Santos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jaba Chakvetadze after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tskhinvali are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luiz Felipe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Tskhinvali know it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Luiz Felipe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A 1‑0 win over Saburtalo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ivan Lipatov is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Tskhinvali will try very hard not to make too much of it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jaba Chakvetadze on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Otar Gamsakhurdia has his answer from Tskhinvali; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Davit Shengelia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Jaba Chakvetadze left the room before anybody could ask which.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Tskhinvali has been clear about where Otar Ananidze stands, which is more than many ever get.
Luiz Felipe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Davit Shengelia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Dinamo Tbilisi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
Tskhinvali and Lokomotivi have settled on $27.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Tskhinvali close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 8 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Tbilisi have kept their man, and Tskhinvali go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Tskhinvali who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Davit Shengelia is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Otar Kashia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Léo Santos is in the works
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Luiz Felipe has, at Tskhinvali, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Palmeiras keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Trabzonspor have kept their man, and Tskhinvali go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luiz Felipe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Tskhinvali will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Prezzi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Tbilisi have kept their man, and Tskhinvali go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Kvaratskhelia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Palmeiras have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad24 Aug 2026
6 new faces, and Tskhinvali are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cukaricki have kept their man, and Tskhinvali go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Kvaratskhelia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.