The Hunt for the Cyprus League Title

This year is like no other we can remember in the Marfin Laiki Championship. Never was there such a tight difference between the top 4. The play-offs were introduced a few years ago but it’s always been the team that finished top before the play-offs that won the league. This year promises to be different. AEL lead the table with 47 points, one more point from Omonia, four points over APOEL and five over fourth Anorthosis.

You can’t chose a favorite as it is now because even though some teams aren’t performing to their standards, as mentioned above it will be settled in the play-offs.

Pambos Christodoulou came from Olympiakos with the AEL president asking Pambos to build his team from scratch and make them into a top four team. Boy does he follow instructions well. After playing 21 games in the league, they’ve only let in 7 goals. This is an extraordinary achievement, 17 clean sheets. Pambos is showing that a good team starts from a solid defense as he organizes his team well and is very patient on the attacking side as they have won several games with a tight 1-0. Matías Degra, AEL’s goalkeeper has without a doubt been their most important asset and probably this year’s MVP. He’s saved his team several times as he’s saved three penalties, one against Anorthosis which turned out to be very important as they went on to win the game 1-0.

In out opinion, a reason why AEL is doing so well is because Pambos alongside Rui Paulo Silva Júnior has brought in players mostly from Portugal or even players who understand the language so the communication between the players as well as the mood in the dressing rooms is excellent. The players celebrate in style together, they always have a smile on their faces and listen to their manager’s instructions to the max. In January Pambos brought in Chris Dickson from Salamina and he already scored the first goal in their 2-0 win against Ermis this weekend. Another important addition was Aliu Djalo who is a young experienced player who belonged to Chelsea so we’re expecting big things from this guy.

The future is bright for AEL and they are our favorites to win the league this season.

Omonia are a point behind AEL and this is thanks to 14 goals from the league’s top scorer Frederico Castro Roque dos Santos also known as Freddy. He was bought from AEL in a last minute summer transfer window purchase and has helped Omonia more than it was expected, his personal goal record. He’s scored the winning goal several times, won penalties for his team and has shown team spirit. We think otherwise though. We believe this year that Omonia’s biggest asset is Georgios Efrem! A player that has come from the Arsenal youth team and has experience, skill and speed that help his team every game he plays. He’s been unlucky with an injury and same questionable yellow cards that kept him out of a few games but if he’s there during the play offs, he will be the player to watch out for! Neofytos Larkou did a very good job considering he was brought in last year as a temporary manager when Dousan was sacked. He’s decreased the team’s budget and made the best out of the players he had.

It’s been a dream year for APOEL. They topped the group in the Champions League with great performances and wins over Zenit, Porto and Shakhtar and have all of the football world talking about them. Jovanovic (the only manager from the teams in the top four that was at the same team last year) has outclassed teams with 100 times their budget and still have chances of qualifying to the last eight of the Champions League if they can turn the 1-0 scoreline against Lyon in Nicosia on March 7th.

In the league it was expected that they would look tired as they had to play several games a week with long training sessions and felt fatigued. This didn’t stop them from winning games but didn’t play as well as they could resulting in dropping some important points against weaker teams. The fans weren’t happy that only one player was bought in January (Sousa) but I totally disagree with that. If you have a team that doesn’t need additions not only does that mean you have a complete team but the players know each other and do not need any time to adjust. Saying that Sousa, aged 34 was bought from Olympiakos in the January transfer window and was one of the most important players they had against Lyon, run endless miles and didn’t leave Lyon play their game. The good thing for APOEL is that by the time we go to play offs the players will have rested from Champions League and will be able to focus on winning those derbys and could do a first Back to Back Championship win.

Anorthosis were almost out of the top four but a fantastic strategic performance gave them a 2-0 win over APOEL this weekend and put them back in the hunt for the title. Ronny Levy replaced Stoilov and hasn’t stopped working ever since. He’s changed things drastically in the team giving them two derby wins over Omonia and APOEL that they hadn’t done so in years. A very disciplined manager who agrees with AEL’s Pambos that every team is as good as their defense. Anorthosis have had several clean sheets since Levy came along and with players standing out like Laborde and Rezek they are well in the title hunt. Laborde has clubs chasing his which is why Anorthosis tied him to a five year contract and have already turned down offers of 1.5 million. In January a few players were bought but the name that stands out is Jaouad Zairi. The Moroccan player who used to play for Olympiacos Pireaus, is a very skillful player who already scored a beautiful goal against APOEL. He keeps improving in training day by day and alongside Laborde make the most lethal wingers in the Cyprus league. They are the players that the other title contenders should watch out for.