CYPRUS DEFEAT SAN MARINO, FIRST WIN SINCE MARCH

Cyprus did what they were expected to do, comfortably winning 4-0 away to San Marino in a World Cup qualifier in Serravalle, San Marino. Loizos Loizou, Stelios Andreou, Grigoris Kastanos from the spot, and Andronikos Kakoullis scored for Cyprus. Cyprus now up to 8 points, and temporarily into third place in Group H, moving ahead of Romania who have two games in hand. Cyprus have now won all 9 meetings with San Marino, this was Cyprus’s first win since March, also against San Marino, snapping a 6 match winless streak. Cyprus will next play on the 15th of November at home to Austria, which will be held in Limassol.

Cyprus visited San Marino at San Marino Stadium in Serravalle, San Marino. After a long injury stoppage time, Kostas Pileas found Loizos Loizou with a nice cross, and Loizou tucked it first time past Edoardo Colombo, eventually confirmed after a lengthy VAR review for offside, 1-0 for Cyprus in the ninth minute.

Cyprus went looking for more, and on a free kick the San Marino defense lost track of Stelios Andreou, but he failed to connect despite being in endless space. Then Loizou found Andreas Shikkis similarly unmarked, but Shikkis also could not latch onto the cross. Charalambos Charalambous set Loizou up, but he narrowly missed the far post.

Loizou had another go from outside the box, but once again put it wide. Grigoris Kastanos had a go, Colombo made the save, and Loizou put the rebound over the net. Charalambous uncorked a powerful strike from close range, and Colombo did well to reject that attempt.

Scary moment at the other end, San Marino’s first foray into the Cypriot box took almost the entire first half to get but it was dangerous, Nicola Nanni got Joel Mall to come out, and he passed across for Filippo Berardi, and seemingly Berardi only needed a touch to put it into the empty net, but incredibly despite getting said touch, the ball caromed wide. Cyprus ended up being a little fortunate to still be up 1-0 at halftime.

Cyprus finally got their second just before the hour mark. Loizou hit the post following a corner, but Andreou was there to slide it past Colombo and make it 2-0 for Cyprus, Andreou’s first goal for Cyprus.

Andronikos Kakoullis cut into the box and was clipped on the ankle by Berardi for a penalty. Kastanos stepped up to take it, sent Colombo the wrong way and calmly placed it perfectly to make it 3-0.

Cyprus continued to pour it on, as Anderson Correia played in a low cross that Kakoullis did very well to volley past Colombo, off the bottom of the crossbar and in to make it 4-0 for Cyprus. Mall recorded a clean sheet without having to make a save, and 4-0 was the final score.

San Marino(Roberto Cevoli): 1. Edoardo Colombo(GK), 4. Matteo Sammaritani(’46 2. Giacomo Matteoni), 5. Michele Cevoli(’77 14. Giacomo Valentini), 6. Dante Rossi, 3. Alberto Riccardi, 17. Alessandro Golinucci(Captain), 8. Lorenzo Capicchioni(’61 23. Matteo Valli Casadei), 18. Samuele Zannoni, 11. Andrea Contadini(‘9 10. Filippo Berardi), 21. Lorenzo Lazzari(’61 20. Nicko Sensoli), 9. Nicola Nanni

Cyprus(Apostolos Mantzios): 1. Joel Mall(GK), 2. Kostas Pileas(’54 23. Chambos Kyriakou), 19. Kostas Laifis, 16. Stelios Andreou, 17. Andreas Shikkis, 20. Grigoris Kastanos(’73 15. Nikolas Koutsakos), 5. Charalambos Charalambous(’63 4. Hector Kyprianou), 18. Kostakis Artymatas(Captain)(’54 7. Anderson Correia), 21. Marinos Tzionis, 10. Loizos Loizou, 9. Ioannis Pittas(’63 11. Andronikos Kakoullis)

Andrew Mantzas

Twitter: @MantzasNC