OMONOIA OFF TO THE RACES AFTER SIX GOAL ROUT

Omonoia scored early and often in a 6-0 rout at home to Zire in the opening leg of the UEFA Conference League qualification playoffs. Two goals from each of Willy Semedo and Mariusz Stepinski, along with goals from Amine Khammas and Ewandro Costa virtually guaranteed Omonoia qualification for the UEFA Conference League, a seemingly insurmountable advantage for the return leg in Azerbaijan.

Omonoia hosted Zire at the Stadio GSP in Nicosia, and quickly took it to their opponents from Azerbaijan. In the 13th minute, Omonoia earned a free kick which Amine Khammas took, and initially it seemed to hit the bottom of the crossbar and stay out, but goal line technology confirmed an opening goal for Omonoia.

Technology would come through for Omonoia again, as VAR gave Omonoia a penalty, after Novica Erakovic was hauled down in the box. Willy Semedo stepped up to take the penalty, and Tiago Silva made the save, but it was ruled that Silva left his line too early, and Semedo was allowed to retake the penalty. This time, Silva went the wrong way and Semedo converted to make it 2-0 for Omonoia in the 34th minute.

Omonoia would strike again before the first half was out, in stoppage time, a Fabiano goal kick found Erakovic, who played it wide for Ewandro Costa, who alertly spotted Mariusz Stepinski going to the net. Stepinski buried the chance from in close, and Omonoia had a dream 3-0 lead at halftime.

Stepinski wasn’t done. Eldar Kuliiev whiffed on a clearing attempt, and the ball made it to Veljko Simic. Simic immediately found Stepinski in space, and the Polish forward struck again in the 54th minute to make it 4-0.

The onslaught continued at the hour mark. Stepinski dug the ball away from Ruan, and Ewandro Costa pounced on the loose ball and smashed a finish past Silva to make it 5-0.

To round out the scoring, it was time for Semedo to get his second. With a bit of trickery, Omer Atzili played a long free kick along the ground, and only Semedo knew it was coming. Silva covered the angle well, but the shot still beat him, and before the clock hit 70, Omonoia was up 6-0 and they would never look back.

Omonoia (Valdas Dambrauskas): 40. Fabiano(GK, Captain), 2. Alpha Diounkou, 5. Senou Couliably, 30. Nikolas Panayiotou, 24. Amine Khammas, 80. Novica Erakovic, 11. Ewandro Costa, 20. Mateo Maric(’73 31. Ioannis Kousoulos), 21. Veljko Simic(’73 76. Charalambos Charalambous), 14. Mariusz Stepinski(’63 10. Omer Atzili), 7. Willy Semedo(’82 99. Saidou Alioum)

Ziren(Rashad Sadygov): 97. Tiago Silva(GK), 21. Hajiaga Hajiyev(’46 29. Jeyhun Nuriyev), 4. Ruan, 3. Ange Mutsinzi, 32. Gismat Aliyev(Captain), 11. Rustam Akmedzade(’46 18. Martins Junior), 15. Pierre Zebli, 6. Eldar Kuliiev(’58 28. Abbas Ibrahim), 23. Raphael Utzig, 90. Davit Volkov(’75 5. Stephane Acka), 7. Masgad Isayev(’46 16. Fuad Bayramov)

Andrew Mantzas
Twitter: @MantzasNC