Preview: Cyprus vs. Northern Ireland - prediction, team news, lineups

The nations came up short against Kosovo and Greece respectively, heaping the pressure on both sides ahead of the game at Larnaca.

Match preview

Having generally improved during a four-game period from November onwards, Northern Ireland would have been confident of earning a result against Greece on Thursday night.

Given that the nation had never won a Nations League fixture, it felt an important game, but Ian Baraclough watched his team under-perform against the 2004 European champions.

A goal from Anastasios Bakasetas just before half time proved to be the difference, effectively leaving Northern Ireland under pressure to respond with maximum points on Sunday.

The worry for Baraclough will be that his team have scored just one goal in six home fixtures, that strike coming against Lithuania when qualification for the World Cup was already out of their reach.

Their away form has been more encouraging - three wins being posted from their last five away trips - but they will need to replicate that against opponents who are also motivated to respond to a defeat.

After winning just three times since international football resumed after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Cyprus have little chance of earning promotion to Division B.

Nevertheless, they came through a two-legged tie with Estonia to secure their spot at this level for 2022-23, theoretically giving them a boost ahead of meeting Kosovo.

However, despite having home advantage in their favour, Nikos Kostenoglou witnessed his team succumb by a 2-0 scoreline, both goals coming in the final 25 minutes.

Over the past year, Cyprus have now lost nine of their 12 fixtures, and although two friendlies have taken place since the turn of the Millennium, these two nations will remarkably be playing their first competitive game since 1973.

Cyprus form (all competitions):

Northern Ireland form (all competitions):

Team News

Although Baraclough will want to stick with a three-man backline, he will consider switching to three players in attack.

Niall McGinn may be recalled on the left-hand side, a move which could lead to veteran Steven Davis dropping out of the team with Baraclough realistically not using the Rangers player in every fixture.

Kyle Lafferty is also an alternative for Shayne Lavery down the middle of the attack.

Kostenoglou will almost certainly make changes to his Cyprus XI with Fanos Katelaris in line to return to the back three.

Loizos Loizou and Ioannis Pittas are also possibilities in the final third, with Marinos Tzionis potentially dropping down to the substitutes' bench.

Cyprus possible starting lineup:

Michail; Katelaris, Panagiotou, Gogic; Antoniou, Artymatas, Kastanos, Papoulis, Ioannou; Pittas, Sotiriou

Northern Ireland possible starting lineup:

Peacock-Farrell; Bradley, Ballard, Evans, McNair, Lane; Saville, McCann; Whyte, Lafferty, McGinn

We say: Cyprus 0-1 Northern Ireland

All things considered, this game will surely only be decided by the odd goal or two. Cyprus will consider themselves to be favourites given that they possess home advantage, but Northern Ireland will be prepared to show more ambition than they did against Greece, potentially leading to a narrow win.

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