After defeating the Georgian national team in the qualifying round of World Cup 2014 in Tbilisi, Mixu Paatelainen, head coach of the Finnish national team, mentioned that his team deservedly took the third place in the group.

Mixu Paatelainen: “Georgia has a good team, fast players and good defense. Midfield plays well. It is tough to play the team of Temur Ketsbaia. We wanted to play the way we did before. We could have scored more goals. It was obvious that Georgia, Finland and Belarus would fight for the third place in the group. We improved our play from match to match. The Finnish national team deservedly took the third place in the group”.

- Was that penalty fair?

- I could not see that moment because of many football players. I think the referee made right decisions in many cases. If I were head coach of the Georgian national team, I would be disappointed. However, I am a coach of the Finnish national team. We had a chance to score 3-4 goals.

- You brought strikers at the end of the match. Was it a tactical change to delay time or you wanted to score more goals?

- When the Georgian national team was left with 10 players, the match was tactically interesting and we could have scored goal. These changes were easy decision.

- Which football player did you like from the Georgian team?

- It was very tough to play against the defense of the Georgians. The Georgian football players have good dribbling. Midfield is balanced. The Georgian national team played tactically well.

- You mentioned the Finnish national team improved playing from match to match. Do such teams like Georgia and Finland have a chance to play at European Championship 2016?

- Of course, we want to overcome the qualifying round and to play at European Championship in France. We took the third place in this group and perhaps, the same will happen in the next qualifying round. Our goal is to play at European Championship 2016 or World Cup 2018.

- Finland took 4-4 points against Georgia and Belarus. Which is stronger team, Georgia or Belarus?

- It was tough to play the both teams. Our football players do not have experience of playing against such teams. It is a merit of the football players that we took the third place in the group.

Lasha Tabagari