In their 300th match – and the first under new coach Greek Nikos Nioplias – the Cypriot national football team topped Moldova 3-2 at Nicosia’s GSP Stadium yesterday evening.
The first official game for Cyprus was recorded in 1960, against Israel at the old GSP Stadium in Nicosia, in the qualifications for the 1962 World Cup held in Chile, which ended as 1-1 draw. The 299th match was a friendly encounter against Bulgaria in March at Larnaca’s Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium.
Despite playing without the two most prominent forwards, Efstathios Aloneftis and Michalis Konstantinou, the home team took an early lead in the 13th minute as Omonia’s midfielder Andreas Avraam opened the proceedings. However, the Moldavians never looked like giving up and 10 minutes later defender Petru Racu beat Anastasios Kissas in the Cypriot goal to level the score. There were chances on both sides of the pitch in the remainder of first half, but it was the visitors who eventually came up tops as Olimpia Balti’s forward Gheorghe Ovseannicov hit Kissas’ net in the last minute of the half.
After the interval Cyprus quickly came back to level terms as Avraam scored his second goal of the game, six minutes into the second half. The hosts then continued to dominate throughout the half, but the fans had to wait until the last minute of regular time to start the celebrations, when Sinisa Dobrasinovic scored the winner.
The triumphant debut must be encouraging for Nioplias, as he now faces a daunting first competitive game since replacing Angelos Anastasiadis as Cyprus’ coach, with a visit from the Group H joint-leaders Portugal on September 2 at the GSP Stadium. The sides played out a thrilling 4-4 draw in their opening UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier on September 3 last year. A late Avraam goal earned a point for Cyprus, who led twice early on, but went in at half-time level at 2-2.
The Cypriots have lost eight times against Portugal in nine games and the only positive result is last September’s draw.
Four days later, the Cypriot team travel to Iceland where they will take on the hosts at the Laugardalsvollur in Reykjavik. The bottom two in Group H meet with both of them well aware that this will not be the last time, given they are also pooled together in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying heats.
