The 2-2 draw rewarded the team’s truly remarkable effort.
The 2-2 draw rewarded the team’s truly remarkable effort.
The great effort until the very last minute finally brought a well-deserved comeback and a valuable point for our National Team against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Despite falling 2-0 behind, our internationals found the strength to fight back, reaching 2-2 and earning a point that takes us to five in the group standings.
The match at AEK Arena was part of the World Cup qualifying phase, and once again our National Team showed an excellent performance. Based on its overall play and the chances created, the team could have even claimed victory had we found the equalizer a little earlier.
Our National Team created the first real chance to open the scoring when, after a pass from Tzionis, Pittas found himself in a good position and fired a powerful shot just wide of the visitors’ right post.
In the 10th minute, Bosnia and Herzegovina took the lead after a free kick, with Katic finishing from close range. Despite the early goal, our players reacted well and came close to equalizing.
In the 31st minute, following an excellent through ball from Kastanos behind the visitors’ defense, Pittas found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper but shot wide — perhaps the biggest chance of the game.
Unfortunately, five minutes later Bosnia and Herzegovina doubled their lead to 2-0, making our task even harder. After a corner kick, Michail tried to clear under pressure from an opponent, but the ball ended up in our net.
Our National Team kept pushing to score before halftime, and in the 45+1 minute we reduced the deficit to 2-1. After a cross from Loizou, Tzionis hit the post, and on the rebound, the advancing Laifis sent the ball into the net from close range — 1-2.
Just a minute later, our team almost equalized when Tzionis’ powerful shot went narrowly wide.
Our internationals continued to push and created more chances in the second half, even as the match approached its end.
Then, in the 90+6 minute, Kakoullis was brought down inside the box, earning us a penalty. Ioannis Pittas converted confidently to make it 2-2 for our National Team.
The 2-2 draw was a fair reward for the team’s great effort, and it marked the second consecutive match in which our National Team came back from behind to achieve the same result (2-2 against Romania at GSP Stadium).
Cyprus (A. Mantzios):
Michail, Siikkis, St. Andreou, Charalambous (72’ Kakoullis), Correia (65’ Pileas), Pittas, Loizou (80’ Koutsakos), Artymatas (80’ Charalambos Kyriakou), Laifis, Kastanos, Tzionis (80’ Evangelos Andreou).
Also on the squad: Moll, Kyriakou, Panayiotou, Kyprianou, Satsias, Kousoulos, Malekkidis.
In our group, Austria lead with 15 points after tonight’s 10-0 win over San Marino, our next opponent.
