Cyprus face a tough challenge on Wednesday night against visitors, Slovakia, despite holding home advantage at their Neo GSP, when the two teams face off in this Group H opening match.
Neither Cyprus or Slovakia are expected to challenge for one of the top two positions in the group but having managed to record just one win out of their last 11 matches overall in all competitions which came in the shape of a 2-1 home win over minnows, Luxembourg.
However, nine defeats within this poor 11-match sequence suggest that Cyprus could find themselves towards the bottom of the group especially as the hosts seemingly cannot depend upon picking up results at home as they’ve managed to register just a single success in their last eight matches.
Cyprus have lost six of their last eight matches on home soil having suffered defeats to Belgium, Russia, Scotland, Montenegro, Azerbaijan and Czech Republic while winning just once in their last four meetings against Slovakia, losing the other three.
Slovakia are likely to join Slovenia as the possible spoilers to group favourites, Croatia and Russia, but unlikely to make a serious challenge for a top two finish in Group H but nevertheless, Slovakia should get off to a positive start in this clash.
Although recent results have produced mixed returns, Slovakia have at least picked up wins against Azerbaijan, Republic of Ireland (after penalties), Northern Ireland and Scotland and they look the more likely to pick up the three points here.
On the road, Slovakia have won three of their last seven matches in all competitions with victories at Azerbaijan, Hungary and Northern Ireland while in World Cup qualifiers, Slovakia have also posted mixed results.
Slovakia have won just two of their last seven away matches at this level but the bigger picture represents a brighter outlook for the visitors as they’ve lost just four of their last 14 matches on their travels.
The visitors have also failed to score in only three of these 14 matches while scoring 2 goals or more in six of these 14 matches too.
Feyenoord striker, Bozenik, is expected to lead the line up front for Slovakia and looks the most likely to notch for the visitors who’ll be upbeat about their chances of securing an opening group win in Cyprus.
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