CYPRUS A STEP BEHIND IN FRIENDLY LOSS TO BELARUS

Cyprus dropped their first match of 2026, an international friendly at home to Belarus in Nicosia. Cyprus were outplayed in the first half, did eventually find their legs in the second half, but never really threatened the Belarussian goal. This was Cyprus’s third ever meeting with Belarus, who have now beaten Cyprus twice out of the three, all of which were in Cyprus. Belarus won in 2004 in Achnas, Cyprus won in 2008 in Nicosia. Cyprus have not won at home at all in just over a year, the last win coming on the 21st of March last year against San Marino, and overall Cyprus have now lost three in a row. Cyprus will next play on Monday in another friendly at home to Moldova, also in Nicosia.

Cyprus hosted Belarus at the Stadio GSP in Nicosia, just the second time Cyprus playing there since September 2021. After a tentative opening few minutes, the first chance fell to Belarus, Artyom Shumansky missed the target, and a few minutes later he missed again.

Nonetheless, Belarus started to smell blood, and a corner brought them what they wanted. The corner was delivered and Neofytos Michael punched it clear, but only as far as Kiryl Pechenin who fired off an attempt that rang off the crossbar. The ball stayed in play and Ivan Tsikhamirau pounced on the loose ball and beat Michael to give Belarus the 1-0 lead.

Belarus remained in control and Michael made an important save to keep Cyprus in it, denying Max Ebong. Cyprus did eventually earn a corner, but it came to nothing. Cyprus struggled to get much going, and Belarus remained ahead 1-0 at halftime.

Belarus began the second half the same way, and Valery Gromyko laid off for Ruslan Lisakovich, but he skied his effort over the net. Lisakovich then put a free kick wide. Grigoris Kastanos, wearing the armband had a free kick that eluded everyone, but hit the post. Soon after, Ioannis Kosti finally had Cyprus’s first shot on target, but it was an easy save for Fyodor Lapoukhov. Tsikhamirau tried to double his total, but Michael turned him aside. Andronikos Kakoullis came close, but put it just over the net. Cyprus’s last chance came from a corner, Lapoukhov was slightly out of position and Nikolas Panayiotou put a header on target, but it was just short on power and Lapoukhov was able to scramble back and keep it out, and Belarus hung on for the 1-0 win.

Cyprus(Apostolos Mantzios): 22. Neofytos Michael(GK), 26. Andreas Shikkis(’79 6. Giannis Satsias), 15. Christos Shelis, 3. Nikolas Panayiotou, 14. Giorgos Malekkidis(’71 2. Kostas Pileas), 16. Panayiotis Andreou(’63 5. Charalambos Charalambous), 13. Ioannis Kosti, 20. Grigoris Kastanos(Captain)(’79 23. Chambos Kyriakou), 10. Loizos Loizou(’79 18. Nikolas Koutsakos), 24. Stavros Georgiou(’63 11. Andronikos Kakoullis), 9. Ioannis Pittas(’71 25. Angelos Neophytou)

Belarus(Viktor Goncharenko): 16. Fyodor Lapoukhov(GK), 2. Kiryl Pechenin, 21. Ivan Tsikhamirau, 20. Zakhar Volkov, 17. Vladislav Kalinin, 4. Ruslan Lisakovich(’71 22. Artem Kontsevoi), 14. Yevgeny Yablonsky(Captain)(’45 8. Aleksandr Selyava), 9. Max Ebong(’71 13. Karen Vardanian), 10. Valery Gromyko(’59 15. Daniil Galyata), 7. Artyom Shumansky(’59 19. Yuri Kovalev), 11. German Barkovsky(’59 18. Vladislav Morozov)

Andrew Mantzas

Twitter: @MantzasNC