Lithuania vs Cyprus prediction: EUROPE: UEFA Nations League – League C betting tips on match 2024-09-05 16:00.
[p]Head coach Edgaras Jankauskas may have freshened up his Lithuania squad by dropping some of his star names, but he insists that cannot be used as an excuse for any poor performances. The likes of Fedor Černych and Arvydas Novikovas, who have 189 caps between them, will be missing for the start of the UEFA Nations League, and the boss is urging those called up in their place to “establish themselves in the line-up.”[/p]
[p]Tomas Kalinauskas and Titas Milašius, neither of whom have played international football for two years, are among the players to come into the squad. They will be attempting to help Lithuania extend their run of three wins in four games (L1), which should they do so, will boost their chances of moving into Division B of the Nations League, having been an ever-present in the third tier over the three previous editions of the competition.[/p]
[p]Looking to stop that from happening are a Cyprus team who have won three of the four H2Hs between the two countries (L1), including a 1-0 success in a friendly less than twelve months ago. Temur Ketsbaia’s side are also riding the quest of a wave after registering their biggest victory in five years in their most recent outing, a 4-1 success against San Marino in June.[/p]
[p]That result eased some of the pressure on the manager, who had previously won just three of his 17 matches at the helm (D4, L10). That run includes the 2022/23 Nations League, when Cyprus finished bottom of Group C2 thanks to picking up only five of an available 18 points (W1, D2, L3), while they have not won a competitive away game since beating Kazakhstan in October 2019 (D3, L14)![/p]
[p]Players to watch: Giant Lithuania forward Armandas Kučys has scored 13 times for club and country in 2024, ten of which have proved to be the first or last of the game. Ioannis Pittas netted the winner when these two teams met last year, and he has helped Cyprus to victory in three of their four internationals in which he has scored (L1).[/p]
[p]Hot streak: There have been 3+ goals in each of Cyprus’ last 11 away internationals. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Matt Jones[/i][/p]