Omonia host Apollon in crunch clash in Cyprus

By Iacovos Constantinou

Just three rounds remain before the Cyprus playoffs with the top three teams, Apollon, APOEL and Omonia all facing each other over the next three weeks in crucial matches that may go a long way in deciding the championship.

This week’s top-of-the-table clash is between Omonia and Apollon at the GSP stadium in Nicosia on Sunday.

More than 14,000 fans are expected to turn up for the game where a win for the home side will see them enter the championship race for good as they will be just four points off the top.

The GSP is not a happy hunting ground for Apollonas as in the past 16 meetings against Omonia they only managed to beat them twice. However the most recent win was just 13 months ago.

Omonia’s coach Kaiafas has no injury concerns and will be fielding his strongest eleven while Andone will be without his suspended captain Argentinian Gaston Sangoy for yet another game.

APOEL take on last-but-one Doxa Katokopias at the Makarion stadium and anything other than a win will be considered a major upset for the champions. However Doxa managed to leave with a point when the two teams met back in November.

Yet again APOEL will be without a number of key players (Aloneftis, Manduce, Carlao, Vinicius) but they should have Tomas de Vincenti back in their line-up after he served his one-match suspension.

Doxa will be without the suspended Paolo Jorge and Ernesto Calderon.

Nea Salamina have slipped perilously close to the relegation zone and need the points against AEK Larnaca. They will be without their recent signing Grigalasvili while AEK’s coach cannot count on Englezou and Mitides.

Anorthosis travel to Achna to face Ethnikos without the injured Avraam and Ende.
Anorthosis have lost just once in 14 meetings against Ethnikos and will be favourites for yet another win.

Othellos Athienou are at home to Ermis Aradippou with the visitor’s new coach Mitchell van der Gaag hoping for his first win that will allow Ermis to hang on to the coveted sixth position for yet another week.

Othellos are battling to stay in the top-flight and will prove to be a tough opponent in a game that can go either way.

The only team capable of leapfrogging Ermis into sixth place is AEL who have a seemingly easy task against bottom of the table Ayia Napa.

Saturday, February 14th: Doxa Katokopias v APOEL (17.00), Ethnikos Achnas v Anorthosis & Nea Salamina v AEK (18.00)
Sunday, February 15th: Omonia v Apollon (16.00), Othellos Athienou v Ermis Aradippou & AEL v Ayia Napa (17.00)

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.