Vukotic rests Omonia contingent

Cyprus coach Momcilo Vukotic has decided to rest players from domestic champions Omonia Nicosia FC when his side visit Malta for a UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifier on Saturday.

Rauffmann missing
Omonia's prolific German-born striker Rainer Rauffman, who has hit three goals in seven games for Cyprus, is therefore absent from the 18-man squad along with Nicolas Georgiou, Ioakim Ioakim and Kostas Kaiafas. Rauffmann will be especially missed as it was his goals against Malta and Israel which helped fourth-placed Cyprus secure the four points they have at present in Group 1.

Captain optimistic
Despite the absence of the Omonia players, Cyprus captain and Anorthosis Famagusta FC goalkeeper Nicos Panagiotou is confident his side will deliver the goods in Valetta. "Our target for this game is only victory," he said. "It is hard times now for the Cypriot players because the domestic championship finished three weeks ago.

'Difficult game'
"However, we have been preparing properly for this difficult game and we should be able to travel to Malta and pick up the victory," Panagiotou continued. "Obviously it would have been better with the players of Omonia in the squad but the other players who have been called up into the squad to replace them are equally good"

Filling in the gaps
Vukotic has mainly filled the gaps left by Omonia absentees with players from APOEL Nicosia FC, including new APOEL signings Christos Germanos and Chrysostomos Michael. There is also a call-up for forward Marios Neophytou.

Cyprus squad
Panagiotou, Morphis, Konnafis, Foukaris, Nicolaou, Germanos, Okkarides, Daskalakis, Michael, Satsias, Elias, Charalambides, Christodoulou, Neophytou, Garpozis, Okkas, Yiasoumi, Konstantinou.