Cyprus may not have much of a chance of qualifying for Euro 2020 after being drawn in a group alongside Belgium, Russia, and Scotland, but they will be fairly confident that they can avoid a humiliating bottom placed finish thanks to the inclusion of perennial whipping boys San Marino. The hosts’ form is far from perfect, but while there have been plenty of defeats for them, there has been the odd flicker of promise as well. The Cypriots have beaten Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Gibraltar over the last couple of years, drawing against Montenegro, Slovenia, and Bulgaria as well. They even managed to avoid a bottom of the group finish in the UEFA Nations League too. Cyprus have never been the most gifted side when it comes to footballing talent, but they do actually have some real quality in their ranks at the moment. The midfield duo of Grigoris Kastanos and Anthony Georgiou are both young talents who ply their trade for Juventus and Levante respectively, while Copenhagen forward Pieros Sotiriou isn’t a bad player to have up front by any means. San Marino can’t say the same about their squad though. Just three of their players have scored a goal for the national side, with the most recent being defender Mirko Palazzi back in September 2017. Apart from him there is La Florita midfielder Danilo Rinaldi and striker Matteo Vitaioli who have found the net for the tiny nation. Unsurprisingly, FIFA’s lowest ranked nation haven’t exactly been in form lately. Their 2-0 loss to Belarus in November made it a massive 27 defeats on the bounce for them, with their last draw coming at home against Estonia in 2014. Away from home things somehow get worse – Their last avoidance of defeat came in a 2-2 draw with Liechtenstein in 2003. Defensively they are torrid as well, and that has resulted in a fair few high scoring affairs on their travels. San Marino have conceded at least four goals in nine of their last 11 away games, and with three of Cyprus’ last nine home games seeing at least four goals scored I think backing Over 3.5 Goals here, along with a 4-0 win for Cyprus, is the best bet.
Cyprus may not have much of a chance of qualifying for Euro 2020 after being drawn in a group alongside Belgium, Russia, and Scotland, but they will be fairly confident that they can avoid a humiliating bottom placed finish thanks to the inclusion of perennial whipping boys San Marino.
The hosts’ form is far from perfect, but while there have been plenty of defeats for them, there has been the odd flicker of promise as well. The Cypriots have beaten Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Gibraltar over the last couple of years, drawing against Montenegro, Slovenia, and Bulgaria as well. They even managed to avoid a bottom of the group finish in the UEFA Nations League too.
Cyprus have never been the most gifted side when it comes to footballing talent, but they do actually have some real quality in their ranks at the moment. The midfield duo of Grigoris Kastanos and Anthony Georgiou are both young talents who ply their trade for Juventus and Levante respectively, while Copenhagen forward Pieros Sotiriou isn’t a bad player to have up front by any means.
San Marino can’t say the same about their squad though. Just three of their players have scored a goal for the national side, with the most recent being defender Mirko Palazzi back in September 2017. Apart from him there is La Florita midfielder Danilo Rinaldi and striker Matteo Vitaioli who have found the net for the tiny nation.
Unsurprisingly, FIFA’s lowest ranked nation haven’t exactly been in form lately. Their 2-0 loss to Belarus in November made it a massive 27 defeats on the bounce for them, with their last draw coming at home against Estonia in 2014. Away from home things somehow get worse – Their last avoidance of defeat came in a 2-2 draw with Liechtenstein in 2003.
Defensively they are torrid as well, and that has resulted in a fair few high scoring affairs on their travels. San Marino have conceded at least four goals in nine of their last 11 away games, and with three of Cyprus’ last nine home games seeing at least four goals scored I think backing Over 3.5 Goals here, along with a 4-0 win for Cyprus, is the best bet.