OMONOIA DISAPPOINT AT HOME TO LEGIA

Omonoia fell hard at home to Polish side Legia Warszawa in UEFA Conference League action in Nicosia, 3-0 the final score. After winning their opener at home to Vikingur Reykjavik, Omonoia have lost their last three Conference League matches, and have fallen into the elimination zone. Omonoia’s next Conference League action will come on the 12th of December at home to Rapid Wien.

Omonoia hosted Legia Warszawa at the Stadio GSP in Nicosia. Ioannis Kousoulos, the Omonoia Captain had the first chance, but missed the target. A little later, the visitors had their first chance on a counterattack, culminating in a weak header from Ryoya Morishita that Fabiano saved easily.

Legia would strike first, and it came from an unlucky bounce. Marc Gual tried to pass it through, Nikolas Panayiotou tried to clear it, but it deflected off of Kacper Chodyna, and set itself up perfectly for Morishita who had all day from in close to decide where to put it past Fabiano, and in the 17th minute, it was 1-0 Legia.

Gual looked to double Legia’s advantage after another bizarre bounce came right to him, but this time he was further out and by the time he got a shot off, Senou Coulibaly did very well to scramble into position to block the shot, likely saving a goal. Omonoia took it the other way, and Giannis Masouras booted it downfield and found Willy Semedo flying down the wing. Semedo sped past the Legia defense, and fired off a hard, low shot, and Gabriel Kobylak sprawled out to make an outstanding save, preserving Legia’s 1-0 halftime advantage.

Omonoia came out more focused in the second half, and a free kick found Coulibaly wide open for a free header, but unlike so many times in the qualifiers, he skied it over the net on this occasion. A minute later, Saidou Alioum was able to knock down a long ball, and keep it in play, centering the ball for Mariusz Stepinski, but the finish lacked power and it was an easy save for Kobylak.

In the 77th minute, Legia pulled away for good. After a throw-in, Rafal Augustyniak crossed in and Mateusz Szczepaniak, who had just entered the match timed his jump perfectly, and placed a powerful header past Fabiano who was sliding across, 2-0 for the visitors.

Legia dealt the final blow in the 86th minute, and once again, the bounces went against Omonoia. The ball took a ricochet off of Alpha Diounkou, right to Pawel Wszolek, who let off a shot, which went off Andronikos Kakoullis and past Fabiano. Despite the touch off of Kakoullis, it was announced as a goal for Wszolek, and Legia were able to take a 3-0 win and three points back to Poland.

Omonoia(Valdas Dambrauskas): 40. Fabiano(GK), 2. Alpha Diounkou, 5. Senou Coulibaly, 30. Nikolas Panayiotou, 24. Amine Khammas, 17. Giannis Masouras(’46 99. Saidou Alioum), 20. Mateo Maric, 31. Ioannis Kousoulos(Captain)(’46 80. Novica Erakovic), 21. Veljko Simic(’82 75. Loizos Loizou), 7. Willy Semedo(’76 11. Ewandro Costa), 14. Mariusz Stepinski(’60 9. Andronikos Kakoullis)

Legia Warszawa(Goncalo Feio): 27. Gabriel Kobylak(GK), 19. Ruben Vinagre(’63 23. Patryk Kun), 3. Steve Kapuadi, 12. Radovan Pankov, 13. Pawel Wszolek, 25. Ryoya Morishita(’63 21. Jurgen Celhaka), 8. Rafal Augustyniak, 67. Bartosz Kapustka(Captain), 82. Luquinhas, 28. Marc Gual(’85 99. Jordan Majchrzak), 11. Kacper Chodyna(’76 71. Mateusz Szczepaniak)

Andrew Mantzas

Twitter: @MantzasNC