Introducing the FC Metallurgist Rustavi

History

It is in 1948 that football first appeared in Rustavi, then a newly built soviet city in the suburbs of Tbilisi, thriving on the metallurgic activity at the term of the second world war.
Involved in the regional league of Georgia until the explosion of the USSR at the beginning of the 1990s, the club won four champion titles in 1959, 1974, 1979 and 1984. Far from the Dinamo Tbilisi, the leading club in Georgian football, crowned Champions of USSR in 1964 and 1978, and winner of the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1981.

After the disappearance of the USSR, the Metallurg Rustavi entered the first edition of the National championship of Georgia, the Umaglesi Liga, as soon as 1990, as the Gorda Rustavi, reaching third position in the final standing. This result, equalled in 1991-1992, was the best result achieved by Rustavi until the relegation to Pirveli Liga, the second Georgian division, in 2003-2004.
Renamed FC Rustavi, the club would then spend three seasons in the second Georgian division, until merging with the FC Tbilissi in 2006. In 2007, the club, then renamed FC Olimpi Rustavi, earned its first Umaglesi Liga title. A second title would follow in 2010, alongside several top half results which strengthened the presence of Rustavi as one of the strongholds of Georgian football.
In Summer 2001, Olimpi Rustavi returned to its original name, Football Club Rustavi Metallurgist.

An instable club searching for its identity, Rustavi has experienced three changes of direction in the last five years, and the squad has known near-complete revamping several times over the last seasons.
This season however, only two players have left the club during the summer, and the fans are optimists. For the Georgian supporters, the team’s pledge is already fulfilled with two “historic” victories against Armenian side Banants Erevan and the Kazakhs of Irtych Pavlodar.

The only snag for them is the failure of the Poladi Stadium to be authorised by the UEFA (because of the absence of floodlights in the stadium). This will deprive the Rustavi fans of a big European game in their stadium, which would probably have been sold out for the occasion.

Instead, the gigantic Boris Paichadze national stadium (55,000 seats), the usual home to the Georgian national team and Dinamo Tbilisi, should feel quite empty with only ten to fifteen thousand spectators expected for this game.

Tactics

The Metallurgist Rustavi manager, Armaz Jeladze, is usually favouring a classic 4-4-2 with two holding midfielders and two wingers. Despite an announced intention of displaying an aggressive attacking style of football, Rustavi is yet to convert its good intentions into a true on-pitch organisation.

Rustavi style is a mix of keeping the ball with many passes on the ground and individual efforts by the players to beat their direct opponents. On the attacking front, the Georgians are also very keen in the use of kick and rush, and they will probably try to outpace the Rennes defence, or at least harass it at the reception of long balls from the midfield.

Againt a Rennes side superior to them on paper, Rustavi will also try to use the strength of their striker Irakli Modebadze, who will play a pivotal role in holding the ball-up to shoot on goal himself or serve his team-mates in the Georgian attacking-line.

Finally, the Metallurgist Rustavi is extremely dangerous on set-pieces, and made the difference notably because of its striker heading ability over the last two European ties. Kader Mangane and his team-mates are warned, any mistake in defending set-pieces might have heavy consequences.

A player to watch: Irakli Kobalia

Transferred from FC Baia Zugdidi, a club for which he played 7 goals in 17 games last season, the young centre-forward, who turned 19 last March, has soon justified the cost of his transfer, since he played a major role in his team’s success in these first two qualifying rounds of the Europa League.

Despite a stupid dismissal in his team’s first match in the competition against Banants Erevan (After opening the score for his time through a superb header, Kobalia received a second yellow for over-celebrating his goal: watch the video), the goal scored by Kobalia was decisive in Metallurgist Rustavi qualifying for the next round.

Against Irtych Pavlodar, following a home draw against the Kazakh team, Kobalia once again broke the deadlock on the road with a long range shot, before his attacking partner Irakli Modebadze sealed the victory for the Georgians at the end of the match.

The young Georgian is certainly breaking through at the highest level of Georgian football, and he has received his first cap with the Georgia U21 this year. Will he be able to translate this progression against the Stade Rennais, a team with a much higher standing? We shall see on Thursday.

Photo : transfermarkt.co.uk
Sources: Wikipedia, Uefa.com, Transfermarket.co.uk
Thanks to the member of the geofootball.com forum