Cyprus show new-found strength

Roller coaster
On a famous night for Cyprus, Yiannis Okkas earned the home side a point by scoring on 43 minutes to cancel out Michael Ballack's opener for Germany. Anastasiadis's men now have four points from as many matches in Group D after a roller-coaster campaign which has included a 5-2 home win against the Republic of Ireland and 6-1 loss in Slovakia.

'Spirit and discipline'
"I am very pleased with my players - they played a great game and I'm delighted with their spirit and discipline," said Anastasiadis. "We were equal to our opponents and created just as many chances as they did until we started tiring in the final 20 minutes."

First goal against Germany
Cyprus had lost all four previous encounters with Germany, conceding 24 goals in the process. If Okkas created a small piece of Cypriot footballing history by registering his country's first strike against Germany, Anastasiadis did not sound surprised: "We knew the Germans had problems in defence and we tried to take advantage of that."

No fear
According to midfielder Konstantinos Makridis, Cyprus have "shown we are a team that can look any opponent in the eye". Their two home performances in qualifying Group D have certainly been their finest since they overcame Spain 3-2 in a UEFA EURO 2000™ qualifier in September 1998. Although the result was enough to lift Germany to the top of the section with ten points from a possible 12, above the Czech Republic on goal difference, coach Joachim Löw was "not satisfied" with the display.

Löw reaction
Löw said: "Cyprus were very tough and were physically stronger than us at times. Our players weren't so fresh and we had problems from the start. Overall, though, I'm pleased with the way we have performed in 2006 because, since our success at the [FIFA] World Cup, we've had six wins and just this setback."