Cyprus boss Nicos Nioplias has welcomed the opportunity to take on Denmark and Norway in the island’s last two games despite running the risk of his side finishing a disastrous bottom for the first time since 1991.
Despite a promising start to their EURO 2012 campaign in which Cyprus snatched a memorable 4-4 draw away to Portugal, things went from bad to worse as the Cypriots lost twice to Norway at home and Denmark away. A 0-0 draw at home to Iceland sealed coach Angelos Anastasiades’ fate and replacement Nioplias is still picking up the pieces following a poor showing in which Cyprus were hammered 4-0 at home to Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal before losing 1-0 to Iceland in Reykjavik.
Cyprus are currently at the bottom of Group H with just two points and will need to get something out of their next two games to avoid a disastrous last place finish.
Denmark are level on points at the top with Portugal and Norway and their chances of a top finish will be seriously hampered should they fail to get all three points in Nicosia on Friday night.
But that is something that is not a priority for Nioplias who told reporters this week that he is already looking ahead to the future.
 “Looking at the table, the game is pretty one-sided when it comes to deciding who gains more in terms of points. But there is still interest for us. Judging by what I have seen in training, it appears that we are in better form than compared to when we played Iceland. We are already looking ahead to the next qualifying campaign and so these games [against Denmark and Norway] will be good preparation for us. We will be more ready come next year when we can start fresh.”
The biggest challenge facing the national team coaches in Cyprus at the moment is the lack of Cypriots to choose from, something that was continuously reiterated by Anastasiades and, this week, by Nioplias.
The former Panathinaikos and Greece under-21 boss went on to say that Cypriots not getting a chance here should look elsewhere to ply their trade.
 “When we played Iceland, they had players from teams like Alkmaar, Ajax, Lillestrom and Copenhagen. They have a diverse selection of players and it is vital for a small national team to have players in foreign leagues. Iceland are better than us at this moment in time and we have to accept that.
“In Greece and Cyprus we make the same mistake of referring to the Icelanders as fishermen. But how often do we beat them? We all believe that APOEL and AEK Larnaca are a reflection of Cypriot football but that isn’t the case.”
He added, “We simply don’t have players [to choose from]. We were forced to make Jason [Demetriou] a centre-half and we are looking for young players all the time. In attack we have Pieros Sotiriou of Olympiakos Nicosia and [Nestor] Mytides coming through.”
Captain Yiannis Okkas – who will be making his 105th senior appearance tonight – agrees.
“We all know the problem facing Cypriot players but I don’t like to make excuses. But it is a big problem and something that we all need to look into. Our best years were when we had a national team with players in overseas leagues. The level was much higher.
“We all saw the teams that came out for APOEL, Omonia and Anorthosis on the weekend [referring to how few Cypriots played]. This is a problem and the responsibility lies with all of us.”
The problem has gotten so bad that over the years Cyprus has been forced to nationalise foreign players in a bid to bolster the national side. Players like Sinisa Gogic, Milenko Spoljaric and Rainer Rauffman who wore the blue and white jersey of Cyprus while Sinisa Dobrasinovic as well as Greek nationals Savvas Poursaitides and Nicos Katsavakis have also been given Cypriot passports and played for the national side.

Cyprus Weekly