Northern Ireland v Cyprus (12/06/2020)

SCOUTING REPORT

Andy Greeves takes a closer look at Cyprus ahead of this afternoon’s UEFA Nations League encounter at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park.

STRENGTHS Most would regard Cyprus as a counter-attacking side, with a large number of their chances fashioned shortly after defending an opposition move. Kostakis Artymatas plays an important role in this approach, sitting deep in midfield, shielding the Cypriot back three and looking to play the ball quickly to more attack-minded players when he wins possession. Many of Cyprus’ attacks are constructed in wide areas and many end with low crosses into the opposition penalty area. The tricky Marinos Tzionis usually holds a position on the left wing but will also drift infield to occupy pockets of space. The Sporting Kansas City player scored an excellent goal in the aforementioned victory over Estonia back in March, carrying the ball inside from the left f lank before hitting an unstoppable shot in off the underside of the crossbar. In possession Cyprus are a passing side and rarely look to hit long balls. They press their opponents from the front . Tzionis, who somewhat surprisingly only came off the subs bench in the game against Northern Ireland in Larnaca last Sunday, is the man Cyprus usually rely on to make things happen from an attacking perspective. The 20-year-old winger, who is also comfortable operating as a wing back or in the ‘number 10’ role, looks to have a bright future ahead of him. Dimitris Christofi, who captained Cyprus against Northern Ireland last weekend, is the most experienced player in the squad with 63 caps to his name. He is a canny forward.

LOWDOWN Cyprus’ 2-0 win over Estonia in the UEFA Nations League Group C Play-Outs on 29 March this year ended a 364-day wait for victory, stretching back to a 1-0 success against Slovenia in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier last March. In between those games the Cypriots picked up two draws and were beaten eight times, including a 6-0 humbling at the hands of Russia in November 2021. Ranked 105th in the world (as of May 2022) , Cyprus have never qualified for a major tournament in their history. The Nations League does give them hope of one day appearing at the finals of a European Championships but they will need to improve on their past performances in the competition. Cyprus finished third in the four-team Group C2 in 2018-19 and bottom of Group C1 in 2020-22. And to date in the latest campaign (at the time of writing) they have suffered a 2-0 home defeat to Kosovo and drawn 0-0 with Northern Ireland at home. They were set to face Greece away on Thursday. TACTICS Cyprus usually operate with three centre backs, with the team’s wing backs helping form a back five when defending. Their starting formation generally appears as a 3-4-3 but in reality it is a 5-4-1 system for much of the game. Transfermarkt (www.transfermarkt .co.uk) regularly cites their formation as 3-4-2-1 for matches, taking into account their two wing backs, two deep-lying midfielders and two more attack-minded midfielders supporting a loan striker.

IRISHFA.COM

21