Match report
Cyprus hold out with ten men to beat Armenia in Nations League
Cyprus beat Armenia 2-0 at GSP Stadium in a UEFA Nations League League C Group 2 fixture, moving to four points from three games. Both goals came inside the opening 31 minutes, settling the contest long before Armenia could respond.
AI-assisted match report written from official match data.
Leonidas Konomis broke the deadlock in the 19th minute, and Andronikos Kakoullis doubled the lead in the 31st minute with an assist from Ioannis Pittas, making it 2-0 at half-time. Cyprus then had to see out the second half a man down after Kostas Pileas was sent off in the 52nd minute.
Despite the red card, Cyprus held firm, with Armenia dominating territory but unable to turn their pressure into goals. Armenia finished with far greater possession and more attempts on goal, yet Cyprus's early efficiency proved decisive and the scoreline stayed unchanged until the final whistle.
Kakoullis struck the second goal of the night and was rated the top performer on either side with a 7.96 mark, while Konomis, scorer of the opener, was close behind on 7.75.
Armenia enjoyed 67 percent of possession and had 17 shots to Cyprus's 8, yet still finished without a goal to show for it.
Cyprus beat Armenia 2–0 (half-time 2–0).
Cyprus met Armenia in the UEFA Nations League (League C - 3). Kick-off was Friday, 2 October 2026, 16:00 UTC at GSP Stadium. Referee: Mohammad Al-Emara.
Team pages: Cyprus · Armenia · UEFA Nations League
Key moments
- 19' Goal: Leonidas Konomis — 1–0 · Watch Leonidas Konomis's goal video (19')
- 31' Goal: Andronikos Kakoullis (assist: Ioannis Pittas) — 2–0 · Watch Andronikos Kakoullis's goal video (31')
- 52' Red card: Kostas Pileas
Starting line-ups
Cyprus (4-2-3-1)
Armenia (4-3-3)
- 12 Arsen Beglaryan
- 21 Nayair Tiknizyan
- 4 Georgi Harutyunyan
- 22 Erik Simonyan
- 3 Erik Piloyan
- 10 Eduard Spertsyan (c)
- 8 Karlen Hovhannisyan
- 2 Artem Bandikyan
- 14 Gor Manvelyan
- 18 A. Miranyan
- 7 Edgar Sevikyan
Sirius · Why these numbers
Before kick-off Sirius gave Cyprus 35%, the draw 27%, Armenia 38%. It finished Cyprus 2–0 Armenia.
Armenia's rating edge outweighs Cyprus' home ground — Armenia are the stronger side on our strength rating, and that is most of Armenia's 38%. The draw at 27% is about what a gap this size usually leaves.
Why Armenia at 38%?
Armenia sit 113 points higher on our strength rating — 1336 to 1450. Sides with a 80–160-point rating edge on the road won 40.0% of 13,727 such games. The 300 most similar past games finished 33–26–41.
Why only 38%?
Cyprus hold 9 more possession points (52 to 43 in recent games) across a 113-point rating gap. Control now carries a receipt beyond near-equals too: sides with this control edge at a 60–120-point rating gap won 42.5% of 8,538 such games where the class table expected 40.6%.
Why the draw at 27%?
With a rating gap this size the draw starts at 27.6%. These teams' recent games average 3.1 goals — a typical goals environment. Games in that environment drew 24.8% of 25,082.
What did we measure but not count?
Cyprus (10 fully-tracked matches with us) and Armenia (8) carry strength ratings anchored to the official international ratings list, so the class read stands on far more than our own short records. National sides play too few games for a record built from scratch, so their rating chain starts from the published international ratings instead of a blind first guess.
Sirius probabilities, frozen at kick-off. Analysis, not betting advice. How Sirius is doing this season · Full breakdown, evidence cards and squad news in the Match Insights tab
About this match
On this page: the Cyprus vs Armenia final score and result, goal highlights and video clips of every goal, who scored, starting lineups, match stats and the full match report from this UEFA Nations League fixture.
- Who scored and when — a goal-by-goal timeline of the match.
- Match stats — possession, shots, expected goals (xG), corners and cards.
- Starting lineups and player ratings for both teams.
- Head-to-head record and recent form for both sides.
- Watch Leonidas Konomis's goal against Armenia (19').
- Watch Andronikos Kakoullis's goal against Armenia (31').
Watch the goals: goal highlights and video clips of every goal from Cyprus 2–0 Armenia. Explore more on the Cyprus and Armenia team pages or the UEFA Nations League page.