The Zugdidi Chronicle
Squad2 Oct 2028
Sandro Tsitaishvili keeps Zugdidi in it on his own
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market2 Oct 2028
Konstantin Bocharov asks to leave Zugdidi
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad2 Oct 2028
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Lasha Arveladze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match30 Sep 2028
Bachana Shengelia’s goal not enough for Zugdidi
Bachana Shengelia scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Sioni, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bachana Kakabadze 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.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
No hiding place for Mikheil Basheleishvili
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikheil Basheleishvili, and the manager let it.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
Kakha Shengelia frozen out at Zugdidi
This is not rotation. Kakha Shengelia has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Zugdidi is pretending otherwise.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Nino Cappon slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Nino Cappon is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Avtandil Lobjanidze to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
- The dugout Bachana Shengelia gets picked when it counts
- Looking ahead Mikheil Basheleishvili faces his old club
- Market The Dato Gvelesiani story refuses to die