Cyprus Cup-Semi-finals (Leg 1 of 2)

This is the first leg of the semi-finals for the Cyprus Cup between Omonia and Apoel. This is the Cyprus "el classico" as the two most powerful and popular teams on the island will fight for a place in the final Wednesday night.

The motivation for this first leg will be on Omonia's side in my opinion as Apoel does not have much to play for. Apoel has already secured the championship which was their main target for this year and a spot in the Champion's League qualifying for this summer. With the quality that they possess they managed to reach the semi-finals of the cup with a relative ease. The Cup will be like a treat to them. The team is based on experienced players that have excelled in the Greek Super Liga which is the core of the team and with the addition of a few talented players such as Esteban Solari and Fernandez the coach Mr. Ouzounides has built a very strong team.

Omonia has finished second in the championship for the second year in a row after suffering unexpected defeats from nearly relegated teams. Furthermore, Omonia feels like the championship this year was stolen from them at a game with Apoel when a perfectly normal goal was cancelled on the last minute by the referee. Also, last year, when these two teams met again in the semi-finals, Apoel managed to beat Omonia and advance to the final, so Omonia will be out to get revenge.

Omonia this year is playing an offensive style of soccer, which has become more effective with the arrival of Mr. Mantzourakis, with fluency in scoring (best offense with 52 goals in 22 games). I believe that the Apoel defenders will have a difficult time containing the Omonia attackers.

Mr. Giannis Mantzourakis will probably field the following eleven for Omonia: Giorgallides, Torao, N.Georghiou, N. Veiga, Konnafis, S.Dobrasinovic, M. Moselin, K.Kaiafas, Ze Elias, G.Vakouftsis, M.Mguni.

Mr. Marinos Ouzounides will most likely field the following eleven for Apoel: Morfis, Kontis, Florea, Segiri, Kapsis, Satsias, Makrides, Michael, Fernandez, Solari, Machlas.

Omonia has been in a better form than Apoel in the last few weeks. I believe that the ease that Omonia can score against any opponent and the fact that their motivation will be extremely high for this game, I see them taking revenge and making the first step towards the final. Very attractive odds on over 2.5 goals, as always a lot of goals are scored between the two teams, but I will go for the straight win.



Pick : Omonia to win
Odds : 2.40
Stake : 8 / 10
Bookmaker : Interwetten
Date : 2007-04-11
Match Result :
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