Sports Mole previews Saturday’s friendly clash between Moldova and Cyprus, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Moldova and Cyprus will compete for the first time in the current international window when they go head-to-head in Saturday’s friendly at Stadionul Zimbru.
This will be the first time the two nations have faced off since Cyprus recorded a 3-2 victory in a friendly encounter in August 2011.
Match preview
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Moldova are still waiting to make their first appearance at a major tournament after falling short in Euro 2024 qualifying despite producing a competitive performance in Group E.
They won two, drew four and lost two of their eight qualifiers to finish in fourth spot and four points adrift of the top two of Czech Republic and Albania.
Since wrapping up their qualifying campaign, Moldova have gone on to compete in two friendlies, playing out a 1-1 draw with North Macedonia, before cruising to a 4-0 win over the Cayman Islands thanks to Vitalie Damascan, Artur Ionita, Ion Nicolaescu and Victor Bogaciuc.
Serghei Clescenco‘s side will now return to action with hopes of claiming back-to-back victories for the first time since 2022.
Moldova will at least fancy their chances of avoiding defeat, having lost just two of their previous nine internationals.
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Like their hosts, Cyprus will continue their wait for their first major tournament appearance after failing to make an impression in Euro 2024 qualifying.
Cyprus lost all eight of their qualifiers to finish rock bottom of a group which contained Spain, Scotland, Norway and Georgia.
Temur Ketsbaia‘s side shipped 28 goals during their qualifying campaign, while they only managed to trouble the scorers on three occasions.
After restoring some confidence with a narrow win over Lithuania, Cyprus have been unable to build upon that result in their opening two matches in 2024.
In March, Cyprus gave up a slender advantage to draw 1-1 with Latvia, before they fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat to Euro 2024 participants Serbia.
Those two matches took place on home soil, but they will head on their travels for their next two friendlies against Moldova and San Marino, with aspirations of claiming their first away win since November 2022.
Moldova friendly form:
Moldova form (all competitions):
Cyprus friendly form:
Cyprus form (all competitions):
Team News
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Moldova are expected to line up with Dorian Railean in goal, while Artur Craciun, Victor Mudrac and Veaceslav Posmac are likely to feature as the three centre-backs.
At the opposite end of the pitch, Heerenveen’s Nicolaescu could be given the responsibility of leading the line, having scored 15 goals in 42 international appearances.
As for the visitors, goalkeeper Joel Mall is set to feature between the posts, with Andreas Karo, Alex Gogic and Konstantinos Laifis all set to operate in a back three.
AIK forward Ioannis Pittas will head into Saturday’s friendly in a rich vein of form after scoring seven goals in his first 12 appearances of the 2024 Allsvenskan season.
Moldova possible starting lineup:
Railean; Craciun, Mudrac, Posmac; Cojocaru, Baboglo, Rata, Reabciuk; Motpan, Ionita; Nicolaescu
Cyprus possible starting lineup:
Mall; Karo, Gogic, Laifis; Andreou, Kousoulos, Charalampous, Kypriakou, Correia; Loizou, Pittas
We say: Moldova 1-1 Cyprus
Cyprus will be looking to claim their first away win since 2022, but we think they will have to settle for a draw when they face a nation that has seen three of their previous five matches finish all square.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
