Azerbaijan vs Cyprus Analysis and Ratings

Azerbaijan vs Cyprus Analysis and Ratings

By Stephen Kountourou

A much needed result or continued slump?

Cyprus, after coming of the back of a very disappointed defeat at the hands of the mighty Luxmeburg needed to prove that this talented generation of talent and the supposed pragmatic Johan Walem could play the kind of free flowing football that myself, and other Cypriots who actually watch the Ethniki play, want to see. 

The Belgian clearly read my thoughts last game and changed back to the 4-3-3 after the experiment with the 3-4-2-1 failed spectacularly last game. With the match being played on neutral ground the stage was set for the Islanders to get a win and a bit of revenge on the side that beat them in Nicosia, Azerbaijan. 

Cyprus started brightly in the first 15 minutes. Tzinois with a shot that whistled passed the crossbar in a good patch of play for his side. A couple of minutes later the opposing side probably should have scored but the shot was well saved by Demitriou. 

After a set piece effort came to nothing for Cyprus, it was fairly end to end for both sides, both testing on each other's defenses with counter attacking runs. Demitriou again was forced to be Cyprus’ saviour once more with another well saved shot which Azerbaijan should have done better with. Before the half hour mark Karo gave away a penalty which would have been a huge blow to Cyprus after an ok start, only to be bailed out by Demitriou with another fantastic save to keep his side level. 

After the penalty saved Cyprus started to gain momentum again but their passing and finishing in the final third was still much to be desired. Both midfields began to cancel each other out, with the match becoming rather cagey and both sides players struggling to create chances inside the box.

After going into halftime without a shot on target, the second half began with Cyprus on the front foot early on. Although eventually it slipped back into both sides unable to string two passes together with cancelled out attacks far from a rarity. With 20 minutes to go Cyprus warmed back into the game after a well taken cross from Pittas found Christofi only for the ball to be tackled from him. 

With 72 minutes on the clock, Cyprus won a free kick on the edge of the box in an attempt to challenge the goalkeeper for the first time this game, but Kastanos shot went well wide. After a couple of half chances were squandered by Cyprus, the Ethniki had to call on the heroics of their debuting goalkeeper again, as Demitriou made a huge double save, before confidently kicking a third attempt back into play. 

After a while the game petered out to a 0-0 draw. An improved result for Cyprus compared to the previous match against Azerbaijan, but their finishing and chance creating needs to improve massively.

Starting XI ratings 

Demitris Demitriou 8.5 

Made two good saves in 4 minutes after early pressure from Azerbaijan. 3rd save was the sweetest of the lot after he palmed away a penalty on the 27 minute. Was a rock between the sticks for the whole game. Fantastic double save towards the end of the second half. Definitely Cyprus Man of the Match.

Minas Antoniou 6

Hardly saw him on the right until the end of the first half where his crosses into the box starte to improve. Started to become more lively in the second half and linked up well with Christofi to get the ball up the pitch.

Andreas Karo 5

Gave away a penalty before the half an hour mark clumsily, but was saved the embarrassment of his side going 1-0 down thanks to his goal keeper. Did not do anything calamitous of note in the second half so that's definitely a positive. 

Kostas Laifis 5.5

Started much like the last game rather slowly, and played too high up the pitch early on allowing their opponents to counter. Tried to play too many complicated long balls when there were players available next to him. Did solidify himself a bit after the break and made it hard for Azerbaijan to create any notable chances.

Christos Wheeler 5

Seems to have lost a bit of confidence to me, looked a bit more static on the left side of the defence then in September. Started to try to get more crosses into the box before half time.

Kostakis Arymatas 6.5

Covered his defenders a bit better than the last match in CDM. Did well to help cancel out the attacking threat from the centre of the park. 

Chamobs Kyriakou 6

Looked confident on the right side of the midfield three with his passing just as positive as his attitude to the game in the first half. Was taken off at half time for Panagiotis Zachariou.

Grigoris Kastanos 6

Created a number of key chances, but still needed to improve his passing in the final third. Was still positive from him in the second half but needs to be taken off of set pieces as he hardly gets a shot on target let alone challenge the keeper. 

Marinos Tzionis 7

Started positively and had a shot early on that just went over the crossbar from his shot outside the box. Was one of the most positive parts of Cyprus going forward throughout. Had a good opportunity with fifteen minutes to go, after a mistaken slip from an opposing player but the shot curled wide of the post. Was subbed late on for Ioannis Kousoulos.

Pieros Sotiriou NA

Huge blow for the side after he was injured in the first ten minutes of the match and was subbed off for Pittas. Would be harsh for me to rate him.

Dimitris Christofi 6

Had a bit more of a quiet game from the Cyprus captain in the first half with most of the attacking threat seeming to come from the opposite side of the pitch. Started to show signs of life in the second half but still not enough to create anything meaningful. Was subbed off in the 69th minute for Loizos Loizou.

 

Subs 

Ioannis Pittas 6

Came on 18 minutes into the match after Sotiriou’s injury. Struggled due to lack of supply form any other the wide players other than a rare shot that went into row Z. Made a great crossing effort passed the hour mark to Christofi only for the ball to be well defended.

Panagiotis Zachariou 5

Subbed on to replace Kyriakou, hardly noticed him throughout the match. 

Loizos Loizou 5

Came on top impact the game in the final 20 minutes. Despite this he struggled to impact the game and maybe should have been brought on sooner.

Ioannis Kousoulos N/A

Came on very late to cement the draw for Cyprus it seems, did not really do enough for me to warrant a rating.

Manager rating 

Johan Walem 5.5

Did much better with the line up today and the formation, was a tad unlucky with the early injury to Sotiriou. My big criticism of him however, is that he needs to get this team creating far, far better with the amount of shots and none of them being on target. Substitutes while understandable, were not quick enough to really impact the game, Loizou being the one for me that definitely needed to come on sooner.

Hellas Football 

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