Cyprus travel to the Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes on Tuesday, where they will face a high-flying Spain side. The two nations are yet to face each other in qualifying and their most recent encounter was in 1999 when Spain won 8-0.
Spain
Spain will look to break away from third and fourth place with a win on Tuesday against Cyprus. Jose Luis De La Fuente’s side have only played three games in Group A (two less than top of the group Scotland), due to their UEFA Nations League commitments which saw Spain win silverware for the first time since 2012. So far, they have collected six points, with a 2-0 loss away to Scotland ruining their 100% record. However, they have only played once at home which was a comfortable 3-0 victory over Norway.
Last week, Spain arguably put in their best performance of the last few years, beating Georgia by a dramatic scoreline of 7-1. Usually when the result is so extreme, a side overperforms in front of goal, yet Spain could have reached double figures if it wasn’t for poor finishing and decision making in the final third. From the first minute, they suffocated Georgia and by half-time, they were already 4-0 up. Rotation occurred in the second period but the performance levels didn’t drop, despite having an extraordinary advantage.
Cyprus
Cyprus sit bottom of Group A after losing all four of their games thus far and it is safe to presume that they will not be looking forward to facing this Spain side on their current run of form. Cyprus seem to struggle slightly more on the road than they do at home, losing their two away games versus Scotland and Norway, 3-0 and 3-1. It is clear that defensively they aren’t very secure, so they try to compensate for that by putting men behind the ball.
Grigoris Kastanos is their best player and seems to be in the thick of anything positive that his side does. You’ve got to feel for Cyprus ahead of this game and if they even have over 20% possession it would be a shock. The only way Temur Ketsbaia can approach this game is to stop Spain, in any way they can, however this may be a difficult task when Cyprus essentially have nothing to play for.
Verdict?
Spain will comfortably win this game and It is difficult to imagine Cyprus causing any threat at all. Spain’s technical players will control the tie and their direct, pacy wingers will run riot, we should see complete domination.
The final prediction is Spain 4-0 Cyprus.
