Friendly in Nicosia, February 8, 1995 ===================================== Cyprus - Norway 0-2 (0-2) Makarios stadium Att: 1000 0-1 Øyvind Leonhardsen (21) 0-2 Jostein Flo (24) Referee: A Klein, Israel. Yellow card: Kostas Kosta (49), Cyprus Line-ups -------- Cyprus (5-3-2): Nikos Panayiotou - Kostas Kosta - Yiannos Kalotheou (Neofytos Larkou from 64.), Kostas Konstantinou, George Khristodoulou (Marios Kharalambous from 27.), Pambos Pittas - Pambos Adreou (Lukas Hadjilukas from 64.), Sakis Andreou, Kostas Fasouliotis - Sinisa Gogik (Yiotis Engomitis from 78.), Andros Sotiriou (Marios Agathokleous from 64.). Norway (3-5-2): Frode Grodås - Henning Berg (Runar Berg from 82.), Ronny Johnsen, Roger Nilsen (Alf-Inge Håland from 46.) - Jostein Flo (Gunnar Halle from 59.), Erik Mykland, Ståle Solbakken, Øyvind Leonhardsen (Lars Bohinen from 46.), Jahn Ivar Jakobsen - Jan Åge Fjørtoft, Sigurd Rushfeldt (Harald Brattbakk from 82.). Match report ------------ A rather boring first half, was followed by a _very_ unentertaining second. Norway only played well from they took the lead, and until ten minutes into the second half. In the rest of the game Cyprus were on equal terms. The Cypriots were much better than Estonia, and in fact also better than Drillo expected, he admitted afterwards. Still, they never really threateded to score, and the Norwegian defense led by Berg and Johnsen held firmly throughout the game. In attack though, the problems were bigger, despite 2 forwards. Rushfeldt once more had a bad day, and when Fjørtoft is too slow, there's not much to choose from. In midfield Leonhardsen and Flo (the goalscorers), where dominant. Unfortunately Leonhardsen had to go off with a small concussion to his head. The other midfield players had a really bad day, especially Mykland and Bohinen were weak, with a lot of passes going straight to the opponents. In all, the game didn't give any clear answer to the question, whether Drillo will be using 3-5-2 in Luxembourg in just under two months. Defensively there were few problems, but offensively the play wasn't any better or more threatening than the 4-5-1 system. Lastly, the goals: The first one came from a long goal-kick from Grodås, which was headed on by Flo. Rushfeldt then completely miskicked the ball inside the penalty area, but it fall nicely to Leonhardsen, who netted with ease. The second also came after Flo had won a duel in the air. The ball then somehow found its way back to him, and from outside the area he blasted the ball into the net. A truly magnificent strike by the big man.