Romania vs Cyprus prediction: EUROPE: World Championship – Qualification betting tips on match 2025-06-09 18:45.
[p]Two defeats from their opening three qualifiers (W1) mean Romania have work to do if they are going to reach their first World Cup finals of the 21st century. A 2-1 defeat to Austria on Saturday has left the Tricolours in second place in Group H, but with the two teams directly below them in the table possessing at least one game in hand, a victory against #129-ranked Cyprus seems imperative.[/p]
[p]Fans should be confident that their side can get back to winning ways against the minnows given that Mircea Lucescu’s men have not suffered back-to-back defeats since June 2022. They also have an impressive record in their homeland, where only Bosnia have left victorious over the last two-and-a-half years (W6, D4 – excluding an awarded win vs Kosovo), with Romania scoring at least twice in five of those victories.[/p]
[p]It’s hard to make a viable argument for Cyprus emulating Bosnia’s feat, largely because they’ve picked up a miserable one win in 15 previous H2Hs (D2, L12), conceding a whopping 41 goals in the process! As if that is not bad enough, the visitors have also lost eight successive World Cup qualifiers on the road, and that sequence is only broken by a win over lowly Gibraltar in 2017.[/p]
[p]That contributes to Akis Mantzios’ side finishing no higher than fifth out of six in their group in their last three attempts to reach the World Cup. They’ve made a solid enough start to the current campaign, picking up three of an available six points (W1, L1) thanks to a 2-0 win over San Marino in March, and after coming from behind twice to draw 2-2 with Bulgaria in a friendly on Friday, they should be raring to go here.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Romania’s Răzvan Marin has scored three times across his two prior H2Hs, while he’s also netted seven goals in his last nine internationals. Ioannis Pittas will be looking to net his 11th goal for Cyprus, with five of the previous ten serving as the first of the game.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Nine of Romania’s last ten internationals have featured 3+ goals.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Matt Jones[/i][/p]