It's hard to evaluate a side who are capable of mixing it with the best, writes Mary Hannigan

YOU WOULDN’T want to believe in omens.

“I saw the video of their game with Slovakia, and it was not a 6-1 game, the Cypriots were unlucky,” said Steve Staunton in October 2006 when asked if, in light of their drubbing the previous month, Cyprus would prove to be easy pickings for Ireland in Nicosia.

Fast forward three years. “Albania against Cyprus last month was an incredible result, I watched the DVD . . . Cyprus played well and I don’t understand why they lost 6-1,” said Giovanni Trapattoni earlier this week, when asked if, in light of their drubbing, Cyprus would prove to be easy pickings for Ireland in Nicosia.

We’ll trust that the switch from videos to DVDs isn’t the only progress that has been made by the Irish set-up since that 5-2 night of horrors. But what of Cyprus, that Albania ‘setback’ apart? At club level, the progress has been impressive.

Last season Anorthosis, then managed by Newcastle old-boy Temuri Ketsbaia, became the first ever club from Cyprus to reach the Champions League group stages, and once there came agonisingly close to making it through to the knockout phase of the competition.

Having drawn with Werder Bremen and Inter Milan and beaten Panathinaikos, a win over Werder at home would have all but put them through – they led 2-0 with 18 minutes to go, but blew it, drawing 2-2 in the end. Still, it was a superb debut.

But the Anorthosis squad included 17 foreign players, a figure almost matched by APOEL, who beat FC Copenhagen over two legs last month to give Cyprus a presence in the group stages for the second season running. They have been drawn with Chelsea, Porto and Atletico Madrid.

Among the array of imports in the APOEL squad are three Portuguese players (including former Chelsea midfielder Nuno Morais), three Polish internationals and a Brazilian forward, Jean Paulista, but with Anorthosis they still provide the core of the national squad, having 10 between them in the current panel.

But that foreign influence accounts for the national side’s progress lagging well behind that of its leading clubs. If Fifa’s world rankings are anything to go by – and often they’re not – Cyprus have in fact declined since that 5-2 victory, dropping almost 20 places in the last two years.

They have won just four of the 16 competitive games they have played since October, 2006 (the 5-2), and two of them were against San Marino. And they have just one win from six games in this World Cup qualifying group so far, a 2-1 home victory over Georgia last March – one they should have added to in June when they threw away a two-goal lead over Montenegro in Larnaca, the game finishing 2-2.

But under their wily old Greek manager Angelos Anastasiadis, Cyprus have proved difficult to beat, Italy only coming away from the island with a 2-1 win a year ago, Antonio Di Natale scoring the decider in stoppage time. A 1-1 draw with Georgia in Tbilisi the following month and their 1-0 defeat in Croke Park suggested they have hardened up on their travels too.

Qualification for the World Cup, though, continues to elude them, and despite their talk in advance of tonight’s game about second place not being beyond them, it would take the mother of all collapses from the teams above them for that to happen.

For the record

Cyprus's competitive record since beating Ireland 5-2 in October, 2006:

11/10/06 Euro 2008 Wales 3-1 Cyprus

15/11/06 Euro 2008 Cyprus 1-1 Germany

24/03/07 Euro 2008 Cyprus 1-3 Slovakia

28/03/07 Euro 2008 Czech Rep 1-0 Cyprus

22/08/07 Euro 2008 San Marino 0-1 Cyprus

12/09/07 Euro 2008 Cyprus 3-0 San Marino

13/10/07 Euro 2008 Cyprus 3-1 Wales

17/10/07 Euro 2008 Rep Irel'd 1-1 Cyprus

17/11/07 Euro 2008 Germany 4-0 Cyprus

21/11/07 Euro 2008 Cyp's 0-2 Czech Rep

06/09/08 World Cup Cyprus 1-2 Italy

11/10/08 World Cup Georgia 1-1 Cyprus

15/10/08 World Cup Rep Irel'd 1-0 Cyprus

28/03/09 World Cup Cyprus 2-1 Georgia

01/04/09 World Cup Bulgaria 2-0 Cyprus

06/06/09 World Cup Cyprus 2-2 Monten'ro