OMONOIA FALL TO RAKOW, BUT ADVANCE TO KNOCKOUT ROUND

Omonoia lost their UEFA Conference League, League Phase finale, 1-0 at home to Polish side Rakow in Nicosia. It was a relatively even match, the only goal coming early in the second half off the head of Oskar Repka.

Nonetheless, it’s not all bad news for Omonoia at all. Omonoia finished 18^th place overall in the competition, well within the required top 24, and so for the second time in as many years, they advance out of League Phase play. Rakow actually finished second overall, behind only French side Strasbourg. The draw for the Knockout Round will take place in January.

Omonoia hosted Rakow at the Stadio GSP in Nicosia. The first attempt on target came off the boot of the Omonoia Captain, Ioannis Kousoulos, but it was stopped by Oliwier Zych. Novica Erakovic was also denied by Zych. Rakow got their first chance, as Oskar Repka made a nice pass to Jonatan Braut Brunes, but the shot lacked power and it was an easier save for Fabiano than it could have been.

Lamine Diaby-Fadiga put in a cross that found Patryk Makuch, but Fabiano read it all the way and made a routine save on the ensuing header. Diaby-Fadiga uncorked a strong strike, but Kousoulos did well to block it before it got anywhere near Fabiano. A futile attempt from distance from Kousoulos ended the first half with no score.

The second half began with a sucker punch for Omonoia. A free kick from the side of the box found Repka who got away from Erakovic and in plenty of space to head it past Fabiano at the far post, 1-0 for Rakow just four minutes into the second half.

Omonoia played dejected after that, and so Henning Berg made a triple substitution to try to inject some life into the team. One of them was Ewandro Costa, and he put an attempt off the side of the net. Another was Willy Semedo, but his shot was right at Zych. Berg quickly used his other two changes, and Ryan Mmaee entered the match. He did well to settle a longball with only Zych to beat, but by the time he could get the shot off, the Rakow defense were able to rush him into missing the net. Fabiano was then pressed into action to keep his side in it, knocking down an attempt from Peter Barath. Kousoulos once again gave it a go from distance, and once again the Captain’s attempt was futile. Time ran out, and Rakow took the 1-0 victory.

Omonoia(Henning Berg): 40. Fabiano(GK), 2. Alpha Diounkou(’62 21 Giannis Masouras), 27. Stefan Simic, 17. Saad Agouzoul, 24. Amine Khammas, 20. Evangelos Andreou(’62 7. Willy Semedo), 31. Ioannis Kousoulos(Captain), 14. Mateo Maric, 74. Panagiotis Andreou(’79 6. Carel Eiting), 44. Novica Erakovic(’70 19. Ryan Mmaee), 10. Tasos Chatzigiovanis(’62 11. Ewnadro Costa)

Rakow(Marek Papszun): 48. Oliwier Zych(GK), 4. Stratos Svarnas, 25. Bogdan Racovitan, 7. Fran Tudor(Captain), 11. Adriano Amorim, 6. Oskar Repka, 23. Karol Struski(’82 88. Peter Barath), 19. Michael Ameyaw, 18. Jonatan Braut Brunes, 80. Lamine Diaby-Fadiga(’71 8. Tomasz Pienko), 9. Patryk Makuch

Andrew Mantzas

Twitter: @MantzasNC