Cyprus v Scotland, International Friendly Options

[Aphrodite's ...]

Big test coming up for the Cypriot NT as we face Scotland in Nicosia.

Going by the massive dip in performance since Nioplias arrival, I think this could be a bad one. A decent result would showcase the National Team to a large audience.

[SydneyOlympic57]

Cyprus should be good enough to beat Scotland

[RED SHERIFF]

show case to a large audience??? who is going to take any notice of this meaningless friendly??

i am not being negative..as i will be keeping an eye on it..but not many in the general football world would give a shit..

[zenon]

What Aphrodite's child means is that the match will be shown on sky and will also be reported on in the British media so a good result will get more attention then any other Cypriot game.

Otherwise in the football world it is fairly meaningless.

[RED SHERIFF]

i knew the post was all about British exposure...

but lets put it into context... British teams play a plethora of friendlies and qualifiers every year....so Cyprus as an opponent is just another team..

don't forget Cyprus in recent years played Wales and EIRE in qualifiers and did quite well...So they(Brits) have been "exposed" to Cyprus NT...this latest friendly will mean very little in the overall scheme..

Cyprus NT is in trouble....
they had a good streak by their standards for about 8-10 years...I always felt this was a bit flattering and more of a flash in the pan.
they played good football got good results against good teams...i reckon it was mainly due to the fact they had 4 good attacking players who could score goals... For a minnow this was exceptional..
Minnows don't have players like Charalambides,Aloneftis,Okkas,Konstantinou(just before that Gogic) all in the same team in the same era at the same time.
Cyprus NT prior to that was a chopping block...no different to Malta or Faroe Islands standard..

I think success by APOEL,Anorthosis,Omonoia mainly on the back of foreign imports has damaged the NT...
They simply don't have the depth and sheer numbers in players..if you look at the results of their u21,19,17 over the past 5 years...they have been pretty tragic..indicating that development is an issue..

[SydneyOlympic57]

Portugal 4-4 Cyprus
Cyprus 3-2 Spain
Cyprus 3-2 Israel
Cyprus 5-2 Ireland
Cyprus 1-1 Germany
Cyprus 4-1 Bulgaria
Cyprus 3-2 Slovakia

For a samll island they punch above their weight thery're above the likes of the Faroes and Malta

This post has been edited by SydneyOlympic57: Nov 8 2011, 08:54 PM

[zenon]

I think the issue of to many foreigners in any league is a valid one.

However it is not only Cypriot teams that have had success " on the back of foreign imports"

How about Chelsea, man united, arsenal, inter Milan, ac Milan, real Madrid, Juventus, porto, befica etc etc etc

You could even include national teams like France and Portugal in that list.

Why denalue the achievements of Cypriot clubs with remarks like" on the backs of foreign import"

I'm a Panathinaikos fan but I know for a fact that if the top three Cypriot teams played in the Greek league they would finish in the top five places

Last time I looked olympiakos and panathinaikos had foreign imports.

Those results posted by sidneyolympic57 are not a fluke and they don't include fantastic matches against Italy etc.

Just because of a couple of bad results I don't think they can be written off for the future

[RED SHERIFF]

1) all the results are from the period i described as "golden" last 8-10 years...and misleading in the history of cypriot football

2) nobody knows where the top 3 cypriot sides would finish in the greek league and frankly its irrelevant in the context of the debate..

i only mentioned their club achievements in the context that we should not be mislead that this is any indication of a cypriot football revolution that will sweep their NT

3) FOREIGNERS IN OSFP,PAO,INTER,CHELSEA,ARSENAL,PORTO etc are not relevant in this debate as those countries including greece and portugal have a huge talent pool to choose from due to the population being so much bigger than cyprus..

4) not sure how the NT of france and portugal matter here?

5) there is nothing in this current NT that gives hope for the future .

6) we should remember how poor they were prior to 2000...they were copping thrashings..

look i hope they make the wc final for the next 50 years....and finish second to greece....but in reality ..a country with a tiny population and little football schooling historically will always struggle to produce quality players..

[zenon]

Can't argue with any of that although I dont think the success of english teams in europe would have been so great without foreign imports, thats my point.

[Aphrodite's ...]

Short bit on Cyprus on SSN just now.

This kind of exposure is always worthwhile to Cypriot footballs reputation.

[Gooner-Panatha]

Coverage on BBC2 Scotland for anyone in the UK

[Reaper the Pure]

Can that be watched in England?

[SydneyOlympic57]

Cyprus 1-2 Scotland

[Gooner-Panatha]

Unlucky to lose the game, we hit the bar before Miller scored a wonder goal. We then hit the post with a thunderous shot from about 30 yards out. Scots should've had a pen for handball though.