Cyprus will welcome Kosovo to the AEK Arena – George Karapatakis in Larnaca for the first fixture of their 2022-23 UEFA Nations League campaign on Thursday.
The two nations, who will be facing each other for the very first time, are separated by just two places in the FIFA world rankings, with Cyprus positioned in 105th while Kosovo are ranked 107th.
Match preview
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After failing to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, finishing fifth in their qualification group with just five points from 10 matches, Cyprus managed to avoid relegation from League C Group 1 of the 2020-21 Nations League following a 2-0 aggregate victory in a playoff over Estonia in March.
The two nations played out a goalless draw in the first leg in Tallinn, before Cyprus won the second leg 2-0 on home soil courtesy of strikes either side of half time from Marinos Tzionis and Pieros Sotiriou.
Nikos Kostenoglou saw his side come out on top for the just the second time in 14 games since he took charge in February last year, and the 51-year-old will be hoping for more success this month as they bid to make a strong start to the 2022-23 Nations League.
Cyprus have only lost one of their last five Nations League matches and victory over Kosovo on Thursday would see them claim a third successive home win in the competition.
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Kosovo finished third in League C Group 3 of the 2020-21 Nations League behind Greece and Slovenia, before finishing rock bottom of their 2022 World Cup qualification group with only five points from eight fixtures.
The Dardanet played out a 1-1 draw away against Greece in their final group game in November last year, and they have since extended their unbeaten run to three matches after claiming impressive results in friendly encounters against Burkina Faso and Switzerland in March.
Kosovo claimed their joint-biggest victory since becoming a member of FIFA in 2016 when they beat Burkina Faso 5-0 on home soil, before securing a 1-1 draw away against Switzerland.
Alain Giresse's men now turn their attention back to the Nations League and they head into Thursday's trip to Larnaca in good goalscoring form away from home, as they have found the net in 16 of their last 20 international games on the road. Only five of these matches, however, saw Kosovo come away with a victory.
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Team News
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Cypriot midfielders Chambos Kyriakou and Alex Gogic both started alongside Nikolas Panayiotou at centre-back in the two-legged tie with Estonia three months ago, and all three players could keep their places on Thursday.
Sporting Kansas City's Tzionis, who scored his first international goal last time out, will be hoping to retain his place in attack alongside Sotiriou, though experienced striker Demetris Christofi will also be pushing to start.
As for Kosovo, Giresse is unlikely to make too many changes, if any, to the side which drew with Switzerland earlier this year.
Napoli's Amir Rrahmani is set to captain the side at centre-back alongside either Mirlind Kryeziu or Fidan Aliti, shielding goalkeeper Arijanet Muric between the sticks.
Vedat Muriqi, who is the nation's all-time leading scorer with 18 strikes to his name, is expected to lead the line, and he could be supported in attack by Milot Rashica and Zymer Bytyqi.
Cyprus possible starting lineup:
Michail; Kyriakou, Gogic, Panagiotou; Antoniou, Kastanos, Avraam, Artymatas, Ioannou; Sotiriou, Tzionis
Kosovo possible starting lineup:
Muric; Hadergjonaj, Rrahmani, Aliti, Vojvoda; Berisha, Loshaj, Idrizi; Rashica, Muriqi, Bytyqi
We say: Cyprus 1-2 Kosovo
There is little to separate these two nations, though Kosovo's recent results against Greece, Burkina Faso and Switzerland suggest that they are the slight favourites for this contest.
Both sides will view this fixture as a winnable game, but we can see the visitors edging this encounter in Larnaca.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
