Cyprus and Northern Ireland will both be looking to bounce back from opening-day defeats when they go head-to-head in UEFA Nations League Group C2 on Sunday.
Northern Ireland were beaten 1-0 by Greece on Thursday, with Anastasios Bakasetas scoring the only goal of the game late in the first half.
🎥 Now we move our eyes to Cyprus 👀 #GAWA pic.twitter.com/FJA6w9DRPw— Northern Ireland (@NorthernIreland) June 3, 2022
🎥 Now we move our eyes to Cyprus 👀 #GAWA pic.twitter.com/FJA6w9DRPw
On the flip side, Cyprus suffered a 2-0 defeat to Kosovo. Valon Berisha and Edon Zhegrova scored second-half goals, while Cyprus failed to register a single shot on target.
It wouldn’t be unfair to say that Cyprus have endured a torrid couple of years, so they are not expected to make a big impression on the Nations League.
The Cypriots failed to win a single game in 2021, registering eight losses and one draw along the way. They even suffered a six-game losing streak without scoring.
Although they have lost one of their three matches in 2022, they head into Sunday’s clash on a poor run.
Cyprus have managed to score just five goals across their previous 12 outings, conceding 27 in the process.
As for Northern Ireland, they come into this clash on the back of two straight losses following defeats to Hungary and Greece.
Not only have the Green and White army lost each of their last two games, but they have also lost four of their previous seven.
Since the start of 2021, Northern Ireland have recorded four wins, three draws and five losses – highlighting their inconsistency.
It is also worth noting that Northern Ireland have failed to score in three of their previous four games, although they did hold Italy to a goalless draw back in November.
Head-to-head: This will be the seventh meeting between Cyprus and Northern Ireland. Unfortunately for Cyprus, they have only beaten Northern Ireland once.
The aggregate of this fixture stands at 11-1 in favour of Northern Ireland. That said, the previous two encounters ended in goalless draws.
Team news: 20-year-old Sporting Kansas City forward Marinos Tzionis is arguably Cyprus’ main threat. He should be joined by Pieros Sotiriou in attack.
Northern Ireland have a number of Premier League-based players in their squad, including Jonny Evans, Daniel Ballard, Conor Bradley, Shae Charles and Alfie McCalmont.
Given that Cyprus and Northern Ireland lost last time out, they will both be eager to avoid defeat on Sunday.
With that in mind, Forebet predicts that Cyprus and Northern Ireland will play out a low-scoring draw.