Cyprus vs San Marino prediction: EUROPE: World Championship – Qualification betting tips on match 2025-03-20 17:00.
[p]Cyprus begin their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign against San Marino, which is probably a positive omen given that they have won all seven of their previous meetings by an aggregate score of 22-1. Things haven’t been going quite as well for Cyprus lately, as they finished a distant third in Group C2 of the 2024/25 UEFA Nations League (UNL), which doesn’t make great reading as they bid to reach a first-ever World Cup finals.[/p]
[p]A 4-0 defeat to Kosovo in September saw manager Temur Ketsbaia sacked, but the tenure of his successor Sofronis Avgousti was short-lived, as he won only one of his four games in charge (L3) before quitting in December to join Apollon Limassol. Cyprus’ poor form means that they have won just once at home competitively since beating rivals Greece 1-0 in September 2022 (L6), although that solitary victory did come in their last such match against Lithuania.[/p]
[p]San Marino should be full of confidence following a record-breaking UNL campaign in which they took seven points from their four games to sensationally earn promotion to League C. Those wins helped to take their number of all-time international victories from one to three – all of which have come against Liechtenstein – making boss Roberto Cevoli the most successful head coach in the history of the microstate (W2, D2, L6).[/p]
[p]The Italian’s already-legendary status will be boosted further were he to secure La Serenissima’s first-ever set of back-to-back wins. Even though San Marino are still considerable underdogs here despite Cyprus’ struggles, they have shown their powers of recovery in their last two matches, twice coming from 1-0 down to pick up four points. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Ioannis Pittas got Cyprus’ consolation goal in a bruising 4-1 loss in Romania in November, and the forward has since been in impressive form for new club CSKA Sofia, scoring in three of his last four games. At the other end of the pitch is likely to be Nicola Nanni, who is looking to become the first-ever San Marino player to score in three successive internationals. [/p]
[p]Hot streak: San Marino haven’t scored before half-time in any of their last nine matches.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Alex Bowmer[/i][/p]