KOSOVO DEAL CYPRUS REALITY CHECK

As many things went right for Cyprus in Friday’s win in Lithuania, even more went wrong in a gruesome 4-0 home defeat to Kosovo in Larnaca. This result knocks Cyprus down to third place in their UEFA Nations League group, and snaps a two game winning streak. Cyprus will next play at home to Romania on the 12^th of October, also likely in Larnaca.

Cyprus hosted Kosovo at the Giorgos Karapatakos AEK Arena in Larnaca, fielding a similar lineup to the one from Friday. They couldn’t have asked for a worse start. Grigoris Kastanos dragged Donat Rrudhani down in the box and a penalty was given. Vedat Muriqi took it and sent Joel Mall the wrong way, and it was 1-0 for Kosovo before the match was 10 minutes old.

Muriqi threatened to strike again, and came close to doing so as he curled a nice shot from outside the box, which narrowly missed at the far post. Cyprus finally got some possession and earned a free kick at the other end, but Kastanos put it well over the net. Then Milot Rashica missed the net with a tame effort.

Then things went from bad to worse for Cyprus, and this time Muriqi did strike again. Rrudhani played in a cross for Muriqi who got away from Hector Kyprianou, jumped up and unleashed a powerful header past Mall to make it 2-0 for Kosovo in the 21^st minute.

There was a brief moment of hope when Ioannis Pittas was able to steal the ball from the Kosovo keeper Visar Bekaj, and he tried to chip the ball into the yawning cage, but he failed to hit the target from a bad angle. Later, Pittas laid off for Andreas Panayiotou Filiotis who set up Kostakis Artymatas, but the Captain skied it over the net. Krasniqi almost made it 3-0 as he found himself alone with Mall, but Mall sprawled out to make the save, and did well to not allow a rebound.

Cyprus were able to put on a little pressure in stoppage time, and Pittas fired one blocked by Amir Rrahmani, and there were shouts for a penalty, but it wasn’t given, and replay proved that to be the correct call. Cyprus entered halftime down 2-0.

The second half started just as badly as the first half. Albion Rrahmani who came on to replace Muriqi at the half made his mark almost immediately, beating Mall in close to make it 3-0 before the second half was three minutes old.

Then a Kosovo corner put the other halftime substitute on the board, the ball eventually made its way to Lumbardh Dellova, who snuck a shot between Andreas Karo and Alex Gogic and past a screened Mall to make it 4-0 in the 55^th minute.

Cyprus tried to get on the board after that. Kastanos forced Bekaj’s first save on a free kick, but the keeper was up to it. On the ensuing corner, Anderson Correia had Bekaj beaten, but Florent Hadergjonaj made a great play to stop Correia from pulling the trigger. Kastanos again from a free kick tested Bekaj, but Bekaj calmly tipped the attempt over the bar. Mercifully, the referee blew his whistle three times and brought the match to an end.

Cyprus(Timur Ketsbaia): 1. Joel Mall(GK), 2. Andreas Karo, 6. Alex Gogic, 3. Hector Kyprianou(’46 19. Kostas Laifis), 5. Andreas Panayiotou Filiotis(’46 16. Stelios Andreou), 18. Kostakis Artymatas(Captain), 20. Grigoris Kastanos, 14. Giorgos Malekkidis(’58 7. Anderson Correia), 4. Nikolas Ioannou(’71 15. Danilo Spoljaric), 21. Marinos Tzionis(’65 10. Loizos Loizou), 9. Ioannis Pittas

Kosovo(Franco Foda): 12. Visar Bekaj(GK), 21. Donat Rrudhani, 3. Fidan Aliti(’46 5. Lumbarh, 13. Amir Rrahmani(Captain), 2. Florent Hadergjonaj, 14. Valon Berisha, 19. Lindon Emerllahu(’87 15. Eliot Bujupi), 6. Elvis Rexhbecaj(’70 4. Ilir Krasniqi), 17. Ermal Krasniqi, 7. Milot Rashica(’70 20. Emir Sahiti), 18. Vedat Muriqi(’46 9. Albion Rrahmani)

Andrew Mantzas

Twitter: @MantzasNC