CYPRUS NET FIRST WIN UNDER AVGOUSTI

Cyprus have their first win under Sofronis Avgousti, in the form of a 2-1 win at home to Lithuania in UEFA Nations League action in Larnaca. Grigoris Kastanos and Marinos Tzionis scored for Cyprus, in an evenly played match that could have gone either way. With the win, Cyprus are guaranteed to remain in League C of the Nations League. This was also Cyprus’s first home win in nearly a year, which also came against Lithuania on the 19th of November last year, the first win in Larnaca since beating Greece in September 2022. Cyprus have now defeated Lithuania five times out of six, the lone blemish being a loss in Limassol in 2001. Cyprus will next play away to Romania on Monday in Bucharest.

Cyprus hosted Lithuania at the Giorgos Karapatakis AEK Arena in Larnaca. Early scare for Cyprus, as a good buildup put Pius Sirvys in space and with plenty of time to pick his spot, but he skied it over the net.

Cyprus woke up after that, and drew first blood. Andronikos Kakoullis slotted a ball through for Loizos Loizou, who forced a save from Mantas Bertasius, and the rebound came straight to Grigoris Kastanos for an easy goal, 1-0 for Cyprus in the 18th minute.

Lithuania tried to answer, and their Captain, Justus Lasickas buzzed the crossbar with an effort that Dimitris Demetriou seemed to have covered. Then Sirvys put a free kick on target, that may have been going wide, but Demetriou took no chances, and sprawled out to push it aside. Then Sirvys had a volley that narrowly missed the far post, and Cyprus took a 1-0 lead into half time.

It took less than two minutes into the second half for Lithuania to equalize. A bad throw-in from halftime substitute Giorgos Malekkidis sent Lithuania the other way, and eventually Gvidas Gineitis fired a powerful strike past Demetriou to make it 1-1.

Cyprus looked to pull back ahead as Ioannis Pittas put an attempt on goal, Bertasius made the save, but the breakthrough wasn’t far behind. Minutes later, seemingly out of nowhere, Marinos Tzionis let fly from well outside the box, which off the boot looked harmless, but it snuck inside the far post and past Bertasius to put Cyprus back ahead, 2-1 in the 63rd minute.

Tzionis then sent in a cross which found Pittas in space, but his header screamed just wide. At the other end, Giedrius Matulevicius had a pair of chances, one stopped by Demetriou, the other off target. Giannis Satsias looked for the insurance marker following a turnover and a good setup by Andreas Makris, but he was turned aside by Bertasius. Lithuania had one last chance to wiggle out of a loss, the last play of the match culminated in a header for the veteran Fedor Cernych, but he put it over the net, and Cyprus hung on for the 2-1 win.

CYPRUS(Sofronis Avgousti): 13. Dimitris Demetriou(GK), 2. Andreas Karo, 16. Stelios Andreou, 3. Nikolas Panayiotou, 4. Nikolas Ioannou(’46 14. Giorgos Malekkidis), 20. Grigoris Kastanos(’81 12. Giannis Satsias) , 18. Kostakis Artymatas(Captain), 5. Charalambos Charalambous(’56 8. Ioannis Kousoulos), 17. Loizos Loizou(’76 23. Andreas Makris), 11. Andronikos Kakoullis(’56 17. Marinos Tzionis), 9. Ioannis Pittas