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European Championship Qualifying Group I. vs Scotland. With this in mind, O’Donnell opts to play long up to Brophy, who once again, is unable to get on the end of the aerial pass, resulting in a loss of possession.A lack of composure on the ball also restricted Scotland’s ability to go forward and an example of this is provided above. The three Cyprus central defenders were key in controlling possession, and this structure was crucial in disrupting the Scotland block.Throughout the game, Brophy’s press was passive, and instead of trying to win the ball, he seemed to have been tasked with preventing central penetration and forcing Cyprus into wide areas.
Live Euro 2020 Qualifiers Teams Cyprus Scotland played so far 3 matches.
However, this brought little success, as Brophy was unable to win aerial duels against three physical Cyprus centre-backs, which often led to possession being gifted back to the away team.Here is another example of Scotland’s attacking difficulties in the early stages.
The Scottish Football Association Ltd,
Again, this leaves Fraser in space on the left touchline and when he receives the ball, the right-centre-back is forced to move out into the wide-area to defend against him 1v1.
The Scots lacked patience early in the game and instead of transferring possession and attempting to pull Cyprus players out of the block, they opted to play long balls forward in an attempt to use Brophy as a target man. "'The buzz phrase coming into this game was 'building momentum for March', referring to Scotland's play-off semi-final in five months' time. Hayley Lauder
The second image highlights this disruption, where Burke, after knocking the ball down, can spin in behind the defence and advance down the right flank.The same can be seen from this example, where again, Burke manages to knock the ball down to McGregor and bring the Scotland midfielders into play. Oliver Burke's 89th-minute strike earned Steve Clarke a 2-1 victory over Cyprus in his first game as Scotland manager.Andy Robertson looked to have secured the first victory of Clarke's tenure with his rocket shortly after the hour, but Ioannis Kousoulos rocked Hampden Park when he headed Cyprus level with three minutes remaining.Yet substitute Burke produced the most rapid of responses, restoring Scotland's lead with his first international goal 138 seconds later, converting a rebound after his sent a header crashing off the post.Scotland's second Euro 2020 qualifying victory lifts them above Cyprus into third in Group I, three points adrift of second-placed Russia and six behind leaders Belgium.Ryan Fraser looked in the mood with some surging runs down the left-hand side, but a swift break by the visitors in the 19th minute ended with attacker Andreas Makris testing David Marshall with a decent drive from 18 yards.At the other end, Scotland defender Charlie Mulgrew forced Cyprus keeper Urko Pardo into a fine save at his left-hand post from a free-kick before debutant Eamonn Brophy headed the resulting corner past the post.Another swift Cyprus break before half-time saw striker Pieros Sotiriou force Marshall into a great save with a low angled drive, and Hampden sat in silent frustration, hoping for improvement after the break.There was no immediate upturn and instead Cyprus grew in confidence as Marshall was forced to save Matija Spoljaric's low drive.However, just after the hour mark, with the crowd becoming increasingly restless, Robertson took it upon himself to fire in a shot from 25 yards which flew high past Pardo.