Cyprus wins first point in draw against Azerbaijan

Cyprus picked up their first point in Nation’s League Group C as they held Azerbaijan to a goalless draw on Tuesday night.

Coach Johan Walem made three changes to the team that lost to Luxembourg on Saturday, bringing in Chambos Kyriacou, Minas Antoniou and rookie goalkeeper Demetris Demetriou.

It proved to be a wise decision to give Demetriou his debut as the 21-year-old goalkeeper of Apollon Limassol was the only reason the game was not over by halftime.

He made four excellent saves to deny the Azeris in the first half with Sheydaev failing to beat him on three occasions while in the 27th minute Demetriou dived to his right to save Qurayev’s spot-kick.

In the second half Cyprus improved slightly and even went close to scoring in the 62nd minute but Christophi failed to connect Pittas’ dangerous cross.

In the final 20 minutes Azerbaijan pushed hard to break the deadlock but Demetriou proved invincible, giving Cyprus almost singlehandedly their first point.

Montenegro lead the group with 9 points followed by Luxembourg with 6 and Azerbaijan with 4. The top two teams meet later tonight.

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.