Cyprus travel to Kaunas to face Lithuania on matchday one of the new UEFA Nations League campaign on Friday.
Manager Temuri Ketsbaia is under increasing pressure in the away dugout, while Lithuania enter the section on the back of a respectable past 12 months.
Match preview
© Imago
In a meeting between the two unfancied nations in Group C2, it is expected that these sides will compete to avoid finishing bottom and being confined to the relegation playoff.
Lithuania needed that route to remain in League C once again last time out, meaning that they have competed in League C across all four editions of the Nations League so far.
A two-legged victory over Gibraltar back in March saw Lithuania keep their place at this level, following on from one of their best qualifying campaigns in recent years.
Edgaras Jankauskas's side finished fourth ahead of Bulgaria in their Euro 2024 qualifying section, beating the Lions, and holding Hungary and Montenegro to draws along the way.
While many across Europe were preparing for the Euros finals, Lithuania were competing in the Baltic Cup, and fell narrowly short in the final, losing on penalties to Estonia after beating fellow neighbours Latvia in the semi-final.
Jankauskas has done enough to keep his FA happy, but the same cannot be said for Ketsbaia in the Cyprus hot seat, and the former Georgian international is in last chance saloon territory.
© Imago
A woeful Euro 2024 qualifying campaign saw Cyprus lose all eight matches with a goal difference of minus-25, and they also lost to Moldova in early June, with a 4-1 win over San Marino shortly after doing little to ease the pressure.
Taking five points from six games in their last Nations League campaign was enough to avoid the relegation playoff even though they finished bottom of their section, but they must use this as an opportunity to get some rare wins on the board.
Ketsbaia has won just four of his 18 games in charge, and the Cypriots have failed to win a competitive away match since 2019 against Kazakhstan - losing 14 of the 17 since.
This will be the fifth meeting between the two nations, and Cyprus will see it as an opportunity to end that barren run, having won the most recent fixture last November, coming out on top by one goal to nil.
The three previous encounters all came either side of the millennium in different iterations of the invitational Cyprus Tournament, with Cyprus also coming out on top across those matches - two wins to Lithuania's one.
Team News
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Lithuania boss Jankauskas has made the brave decision of leaving out his two most experienced players for their two matches this month.
Arvydas Novikovas (96 caps) and Fedor Cernych (93 caps) have both been snubbed, with the manager looking towards giving new players and some that had been overlooked recently an opportunity in the side.
On the injury front, midfielders Paulius Golubickas and Gvidas Gineitis are both currently sidelined, along with defender Edgaras Utkus, all three of whom have been regulars in the side of late.
Ketsbaia has stuck with much of the same squad that featured in Euro qualifying, with no new faces called up, but there are players in fine form within the squad.
AIK striker Ioannis Pittas has been one of the standout performers in Sweden this year, with 14 goals in 2024 and is likely to start in attack alongside Grigoris Kastanos.
Peterborough United's Hector Kyprianou has also made a fine start to the campaign, and should start next to St Mirren's Alex Gogic in defence.
Goalkeeper Joel Mall has not been first choice at Servette so far this season, but he was man of the match in the Swiss side's recent win over Chelsea in the Conference League.
Lithuania possible starting lineup:
Gertmonas; Lekiatas, Kazukolovas, Tutyskinas; Lasickas, Slivka, Verbickas, Vorobjovas, Sirvys; Kucys, Paulauskas
Cyprus possible starting lineup:
Mall; Kyprianou, Gogic, Laifis; Andreou, Charalampous, Kyriakou, Anderson Correia; Pittas, Kastanos, Loizou
We say: Lithuania 1-1 Cyprus
Lithuania had their struggles in the last Nations League campaign, but made up for it with some impressive results in Euro 2024 qualification, and should come into this break slightly rejuvenated after recent wins over Gibraltar, and only a narrow defeat in the Baltic Cup.
Cyprus won their last international fixture, but that was to be expected against San Marino, and if manager Ketsbaia fails to end their five-year wait for an away competitive win, the pressure on him will mount.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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