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Ireland first met Cyprus in Nicosia on March 26, 1980 and they won the game 3-2 with Paul McGee of Sligo and Crystal Palace scoring twice and Mark Lawrenson also on the scoresheet.
Ireland’s overall scoring record improved spectacularly after that so that now the scoreboard stands 20 for and two against after five games. It will be a major surprise if Ireland fail to improve that statistic still further in Nicosia.
Cyprus go into the game with little motivation. Their manager, Angelos Anastasiades, was appointed half-way through the current World Cup gampaign when his predecessor, Momcilo Vukotic, paid the price for a run of poor results and was sacked.
It is believed that Anastasiades, who is a Greek and was unemployed when offered the job, will leave again when Cyprus finish this campaign with a match in Paris next Wednesday.
Last time out Cyprus lost 1-3 to Switzerland and goalkeeper Michalis Morphis has paid the penalty for that by being dropped. Further to that the entire team was criticised by the manager who publicly questioned their commitment after the game.
Perhaps it should be remembered that Switzerland beat Cyprus only by one goal when they meet in Basel last March and, indeed, they were level with Switzerland 1-1 last month until the Swiss produce two late goals.
Everything suggests, however, that Ireland will secure the win they need and once that is achieved the immediate focus will fall on the two other matches in the group today. Both are likely to affect Ireland’s prospects of getting to Germany next year.
Much has been made of the meeting of Switzerland and France in Basel but it is as well to remember that Israel complete their programme with a home game against Faroe Islands and they will surely win that.
If they do then Israel will finish with a total of 18 points and Ireland will go into their final game against Switzerland next Wednesday with 16 points if they beat Cyprus this evening.
This helps to put the fact that Ireland must win both games if this World Cup campaign is to have a happy ending for them in perspective. They cannot afford to slip up again.
The issue of how teams are separated in the event of a tie when the programme of qualifying matches is completed has occupied some minds this week and to clarify here are the regulations:
The first criteria will be the greater number of points between the two teams. The goal difference from those matches will then be consulted if that does not separate them and then the greater number of goals scored in those games.
If that fails to separate the teams then goal difference from all group matches applies followed by the number of goals scored. If they are still tied then FIFA will order a play-off on a neutral ground.
The goals difference table of the four teams chasing the top two positions is as follows:
Switzerland plus 11;
France plus 8;
Ireland plus 6;
Israel plus 4.
The Irish team for the match is expected to be: Shay Given; Stephen Carr, Richard Dunne, Kenny Cunningham, John O’Shea; Steve Finnan, Graham Kavanagh, Kevin Kilbane, Damien Duff; Stephen Elliott, Robbie Keane.
The Cyprus team is expected to be: Panaylotu; Ilia, Lambrou, Louka, Garpozis, Michail, Makridis, Charalampidis, Alonefitis, Okkas, Konstantiou.