Cyprus Cup Semi Finals (Leg 1 of 2)

Aek and Anorthisis go head to head on Wednesday night for a spot in the Cyprus Cup Final in hopes of exiting towards the UEFA cup. In Cyprus the team that wins the championship title goes on to the Champion's League qualifying rounds, the team that finishes 2nd to the UEFA cup and the team that wins the Cyprus Cup also takes a spot in the UEFA cup. This is an extremely imporant game for both teams, as the team that advances on to the final will gain a spot in the UEFA cup. The reason is because Apoel and Omonia, who play on the other semi-final have already secured their exit to the european cups and regardless of the outcome of the final, the team that advances from the AEK-Anorthosis pair will automatically gain participation in the UEFA. For Cyprus teams it is a big financial gain because the television rights from the international games are enough to cover a big chunk of their budget for next year. Now on to the teams.

Anorthosis has a lot of talent and is considered to be the better team. They have made a push for the championship title from the beginning of the season, but they came short a few rounds before the end, finishing third in the Championship. The cup is their only way of redeeming themselves and making financial gains. Mr. Timour Getsbaya, the coach of Anorthosis has not given a break to his players throughout the Easter break, in order to be in top form for the game on Wednesday. Anorthosis plays a very attractive style of attacking soccer, but sometimes the players do not behave as a team. On a good day though Anorthosis can be very effective.

Aek on the other hand is a team of tactics. Mr. Konstantinou has put together a decent team, with a low budget that can be very difficult to beat at home for any opponent. Aek is missing two important players De Krout and Olisei whose absense will be missed in my opinion. The style Aek is playing is very conservative. Their games tend to be low scoring, and their wins very narrow. I believe that Aek has done great with the players that it has available by reaching fourth position in the championship and making it this far in the semi-finals. No doubt they will try to beat Anorthosis and make the first step towards the final but I find the task very difficult.

Possible line ups:

Anorthosis: Beqaj, Dikoumana, Samaras, Katsavakis, Louka,Maragkos,Nikolaou, Zlogar, Boaventura, Soares,Froussos

AEK: Avgousti, Maris, Ze Nanto, Christou,Victoria,Zografakis,Gonzalez,Cisse,Kingsley,Tchitaisvili.

I would go for a straight win for Anorthosis for this game, but the coach of Anorthosis has said that his team will be happy with a draw in this first leg, and they can finish the game off at home. In my opinion it is very difficult for Aek to beat Anorthosis, and Anorthosis will get what they want, a draw. Less than 2.5 is also a good option for this game, but the odds are not very attractive. Given the fact that Anorthosis will try to get an away goal and then defend it, I feel confident that they will achieve their target. Low scoring draw for this game, possibly 1-1. Medium stakes

Pick : Draw
Odds : 3.00
Stake : 6 / 10
Bookmaker : Interwetten
Date : 2007-04-11
Match Result :
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