In almost a carbon copy of Thursday’s defeat to Wales, Cyprus dominated for large parts of the game against Belgium but were ultimately outdone by a late strike from the most dangerous man on the field.
It was Gareth Bale’s header on 82 minutes which separated the two teams just a few days ago and it
was Eden Hazard at 85 minutes who stole the points for the Red Devils on Sunday, making Cyprus’ chances of claiming the third and final playoff spot in Group B a steep challenge.
Israel picked up a valuable draw against Wales earlier in the evening and Bosnia breezed past Andorra, causing Cyprus to drop down to fifth place in the group by the end of the night.
With a wealth of talent throughout the Belgian side coupled with their 5-0 win over Cyprus in March meant few gave the home team any hope of leaving the national stadium with a favourable result but an excellent performance left the local supporters feeling hard done with the result.
Manchester City’s new £57million signing Kevin de Bruyne proved the biggest threat early on. The
game’s first big moment came after Constantinos Makrides claims on the edge of the Belgian box and
the away team broke at speed. Marouane Fellaini’s deflected effort fell into De Bruyne’s path who
tucked the ball into the net, only for it to be ruled out for offside.
Lone striker Nestoras Mitidis was forced off after just ten minutes which signaled the introduction of Pieros Soteriou, and the APOEL forward burst into action almost immediately. The youngster robbed Thomas Vermaelen of the ball on the halfway line but was slow to get the ball out of his feet, allowing the defence to regroup.
But for all of Belgium’s household names, it was Cyprus who enjoyed the best of the first-half. On 30 minutes, some lovely incisive build up play almost saw the home side take a shock lead. A neat triangle between Constantinos Charalambides, Jason Demetriou and Giorgos Economides eventually found Makridis in the box but his effort went well wide of the keeper’s far post.
Just moments later, a hopeful ball into the box by Marios Antoniades raised some tame penalty claimsfor a tug on Makrides. The ball eventually came out to Charalambides on the right who picked out Marios Nikolaou but the former AEL captain’s strike was practice work for Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois.
In the second half, Cyprus continued to look more threatening. The slow yet measured build up play saw the home side boss the nation ranked second in FIFA’s latest rankings. However, the absence of Stathis Aloneftis, Giorgos Efrem and Dimitris Christofi would leave fans wondering what could have been had one of the aforementioned trio been fit for selection.
As was the case against Wales on Thursday, Cyprus’ lack of individual quality especially in the final third desperately let them down, and it would prove costly.
A nervy ending saw Belgium pile the pressure and, in a repeat of the game against group leaders Wales, Cyprus could not hold on. A quick breakaway found substitute Dries Mertens free on the wing who then picked out Hazard on the edge of the six-yard box, and the Chelsea star would make no mistake with a measured strike beyond the reach of Georgallides to crush Cypriot hearts.
The next internationals for Christodoulou’s men come just a month away, when they take on Israel away and Bosnia at home.
