Our national team coach, Apostolos Mantzios, spoke to the media as the team began its preparations for the Nations League matches.
Mr. Mantzios addressed the challenges our team is facing, but emphasized once again that Cyprus’s goal in the new competition is to be a contender.
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Laifis and Sielis have been added to the list of players absent from the squad due to injury. As he noted, they will remain with the team and be evaluated daily, emphasizing that they will play only if deemed ready.
Regarding the upcoming tournament, Mr. Mantzios stated:
“The Nations League isn’t as difficult as the World Cup qualifiers. I want us to maintain the same consistency and keep getting better with every match. I’ve said before that I want us to be contenders, and I’ll say it again. We need to stay focused until the very end on a goal that can take us to the next level. Everyone is optimistic that we can do even better. The level of difficulty is different for every team. I hope we have no absences. Let’s maintain consistency and the same determination. The previous tournament taught us that some of our problems were simple mistakes and a lack of efficiency.”
Mr. Mantzios also commented on the call-ups of Tsaroulla, Edwards, and Konomi, who were called up for the first time:
“Both players who came from England play at a high level. Especially Edwards. We’ll try to help him adapt to our system so he can build chemistry with the rest of the team. The team always comes before any individual. No one has gone easy on Konomi. He’s shown significant improvement this season. He’s improved in many aspects of his game. He earned his spot through hard work; it’s up to him to keep it.”
