· 2 min readIn this Cyprus vs Armenia match, I analyse the key tactical moments, individual performances and turning points of the game.
There was little to separate Cyprus and Armenia before the game. Both came into the third round of the Nations League still looking for consistency, in a group where the objective is to finish top. With both being weak sides on the overall stage, this looked like one of those games where the desire to win could level everything out.
And it started with Marcus Edwards showing why, in my opinion, he was the biggest talent on the pitch. Just 16 seconds in, the Cyprus winger went on a brilliant dribble, got his shot away and only failed to score because Beglaryan was there to save it. Edwards played as a second striker in a 4-4-2, with the freedom to drop deep, push forward and look for spaces, while Pittas stayed further up the pitch.
Armenia had more of the ball, but that meant very little. The problem came in the 19th minute, when a Cyprus corner ended with an absurd mistake from Beglaryan. The goalkeeper jumped on his own to catch the ball, couldn’t hold on to it and dropped it. Komonis was quicker than his marker and only had to accept the gift: 1-0.
Then, in the 31st minute, another gift arrived. Hovhannisyan played a horrible pass, Pittas won the ball back, carried it forward and played it out to Kakoullis on the left, who shot towards the near post. The ball literally just scraped past Beglaryan’s hands and went in. 2-0, with another mistake from the Armenian goalkeeper.
After that, Armenia finally created a few situations. In the 36th minute, they spent more than 30 seconds inside the Cyprus box. Even so, there was a lack of quality in the final ball and finishing. At the other end, Loizou nearly made it 3-0 on the counter in the 40th minute, after a brilliant little feint to get past Arutiunian. At half-time, Armenia had 53% possession, but Cyprus led 0.57-0.36 on xG.
Cyprus were already ahead and, right at the start of the second half, they were faced with a huge problem. Pileas made a strong challenge on Bandikyan, VAR called the referee over and, in the 51st minute, the red card came out. The challenge itself might have looked less serious, but the impact on the ankle justified the sending-off. With an extra player, Armenia had a huge opportunity to change the game.
Or rather, they had the possession. Because in terms of danger, almost nothing. Cyprus dropped into a 5-3-1 or 5-4 and even had just 6% possession in the first 15 minutes of the second half. But Armenia couldn’t find any spaces. By the 70th minute, they had just 0.13 xG in the second half, and by the 85th that number was 0.29. That’s very little for a team that played practically the entire second half with an extra man.
Pittas did have a chance to break away on the counter in the 74th minute, but his shot was weak. And that was that. Cyprus sat deep, resisted and secured their first win in this Nations League.
Post-match
For Armenia, this is a huge disappointment: playing with an extra man for practically the entire second half and creating so little offensively is very difficult to justify. The game was already poor before half-time, but after the sending-off there was a clear opportunity to change the story. Armenia simply didn’t know how to take it.
