So, the ladzes qualified for Euro 2004. But they are old ladzes, and the clock is ticking on the inevitable slow down on their ability – you can catch up here. Our group is supposed to be kind, but on paper it looks cruel. That said, we’ve beaten England before, we can beat them again.

We’ve cancelled our warm-ups in June as I don’t want to risk injuries so close to the kick-off. I forgot to screen grab, but Archil is now at Real Madrid. My top three players all at top clubs is just what we need. Well, we might stay on for a second World Cup if we can…be rude not to!

Very sadze. Nemesadze’s Euro’s are over before they even begin.

To cheer ourselves up, we batter Ghana.

And we follow that up by beating group foes Romania, even with a second half, second string team.

I’ll take that in the groups. So that’s it. England, Sweden and Romania await. Our midfield takes another unneeded hit:

That said, first stop England, and my god they are s****.

Anchabadze picks up a ban for the Romania game. A game that passes by without any incident…at all. Okay well and injury but it isn’t that Hagi.

A draw against Sweden will see us through. World Cup runners up England are going home. We thrash the turnips to see ourselves qualify without conceding a single goal.

The downside is that Shota is out for the tournament.

We will face off with Spain.

With a precariously average team other than Archil Arveladze and Georgiou Kinkladze, we’ll go 4-5-1 and try and nick a winner. Well…and with the rest to contend with, 4-5-1 is a must!

And it pays off. A victory on penalties with big thanks to Schkeidze for keeping Morientes and Alfonso at pay for 120 minutes.

Another old Euro’s foe. Germany.

FFFFFUUUUUUU************KKKKKK. That is uncalled for. Dreadful news. Now without our only two world class players.

We retain the 4-5-1 in hoping to bore the opposition to death.

The Rovaz Arveladze regen nicks us an early goal as we sit back and soak up the pressure from Germany’s statistically inferior players. Our reward? A repeat of the Euro 2000 final. Can we get revenge? It’s more likely we’ll get battered.

Oh what could have been. It could have been all songs in the street…oh wait it was, in the more important World Cup.

We throw away a golden opportunity to stake our claim on a second major trophy but baldy Barthez saves 3 penalties. We didn’t concede a single goal in open play…but it counts for nothing in the end.

And the history books repeat:

The season closes and my mate Adrian Malbazza retires.

He is replaced by royalty:

So here on in, seen as we don’t need to qualify for the World Cup, you’ve got 24 months of friendlies to absorb. Breathe it in…ha-ha.

We start of our two year long haul of friendlies against a team we thrashed the last time we played them. It’s a little different this time out.

We had double the shots at goal and double the shots on target. It would appear that after turning 35, Schkeidze is going downhill. 3 on target and 3 goals for Ortega. Next up, a bore fest vs. Denmark. Again, we showcase our (lack of) finishing skills.

And finally we close the year out against Bulgaria with a shocking defeat.

Another game where we should have buried them, but our strikers…I don’t know. We are ageing and declining rapidly. 2006 could be terrible.

And with that, the ladzes have covered 2004. Runners-up in the Euro’s, but I’ve a fair idea that, with not enough time for any possible regens to come good, and time for most of my players to edge past the 35 years old mark, we might crash out in the groups at the World Cup. See you in 2005 for more friendlies. My god, we could get the sack before the World Cup.