CYPRUS OUTCLASSED BY ROMANIA IN AVGOUSTI DEBUT

The Sofronis Avgousti era for the Cyprus National Team is not off to a good start, as Cyprus falls 3-0 at home to Romania in UEFA Nations League action in Larnaca. Cyprus were down 3-0 by halftime and Romania cruised to victory after that. Cyprus have now played Romania 14 times, and have only beaten them once. Cyprus next travel to Pristina to visit Kosovo on Tuesday. Kosovo have won all three previous meetings.

Cyprus hosted Romania at the Giorgos Karapatakis AEK Arena in Larnaca, their first match under new manager, Sofronis Avgousti. Unfortunately, the sold out stadium was largely full of Romanians, as can often be the case for countries with large fanbases visiting Cyprus. Also unfortunately, with the match barely 15 minutes old, some cavalier passing at the back cost Cyprus, and with some nifty ball movement, a series of quick passes ended up on the boot of Dennis Man, no chance for Joel Mall and it was already 1-0 for Romania.

Cyprus tried to answer, but an ambitious effort from Grigoris Kastanos was caught and held by Florin Nita.

Instead, things went from bad to worse, with another turnover, this time Loizos Loizou was the culprit, and Valentin Mihaila came up with the steal, and drew a penalty, being dragged down by Kostas Laifis. Laifis got none of the ball on the challenge. Razvan Marin took the penalty, and took it well, sending Mall the wrong way to make it 2-0.

Once again Kastanos tried one from outside the box, and once again, Nita made a routine save, this time on a free kick. Shortly thereafter, Minas Antoniou was injured and had to be subbed out for Marios Stylianou.

Romania stayed on the attack, and Nicolae Stanciu earned a corner. On the ensuing corner, the entire Cypriot defense fell asleep, and Radu Dragusin made them pay, heading the ball past Mall at the far post, completely unmarked, and by the 36th minute, Romania were up 3-0.

Romania tried to rub salt in the wound, as Man looked for a second, but Mall did well to deny him. The halftime whistle came not long after, but the damage was done.

In the second half, it was still Romania doing most of the attacking. Dragusin fired one through the box, but it eluded a maze of bodies, including Mall, and went wide. More careless play at the back led Dragusin to another chance, but Mall bailed his team out with a point blank save. Denis Dragus then had a go, but Mall was able to turn him aside, as well. Stanciu curled a strong effort from distance, but it sailed over the bar.

Charalambos Charalambous tried to get Cyprus on the board, he placed his shot well, but Nita was able to get to it. The Captain, Kostakis Artymatas put one off target soon after. The late push continued, but Laifis also missed the net, and so too did Andreas Makris. The last significant chance fell to Darius Olaru, but Mall punched it away. Pieros Sotiriou in his first appearance for his country in a couple of years did have an attempt at goal, but he missed the net in stoppage time, and the 3-0 loss stood.

Cyprus(Sofronis Avgousti): 1. Joel Mall(GK), 18. Kostakis Artymatas(Captain), 19. Kostas Laifis, 3. Nikolas Panayiotou, 7. Minas Antoniou(’33 12. Marios Stylianou), 8. Ioannis Kousoulos(’46 5. Charalambos Charalambous), 20. Grigoris Kastanos(’75 11. Andreas Makris), 4. Nikolas Ioannou, 17. Loizos Loizou(’46 10. Pieros Sotiriou), 21. Marinos Tzionis(’46 23. Marios Ilia), 9. Ioannis Pittas

Romania(Mircea Lucescu): 1. Florin Nita(GK), 11. Nicusor Bancu(’63 8. Alexandru Chipciu), 15. Andrei Burca, 3. Radu Dragusin(’82 5. Virgil Ghita), 2. Andrei Ratiu, 18. Razvan Marin(’63 21. Darius Olaru), 6. Marius Marin, 10. Nicolae Stanciu(Captain), 13. Valentin Mihaila, 19. Denis Dragus(’72 9. George Puscas), 20. Dennis Man(’72 14. Ianis Hagi)

Andrew Mantzas

Twitter: @MantzasNC