Kosovo vs Cyprus

Kosovo and Cyprus will play at Pristina City Stadium on Tuesday night as they continue to aim for promotion in the UEFA Nations League.

After winning over the weekend, the hosts are now in second place in the League C Group 2 rankings, three points ahead of their visitors, who are in last place after suffering a crushing home loss.

With goals from Lille winger Edon Zhegrova and Sparta Prague's Ermal Krasniqi either side of halftime, Kosovo defeated Lithuania 2-1 on Saturday to record back-to-back victories in Group 2.

After a shocking mistake by goalkeeper Amir Saipi, who subsequently made a vital late save to redeem himself, the home team cut their lead in the 84th minute.

Kosovo is therefore still three points behind leaders Romania on the rankings, and when the group stage ends next month, they will be eligible for a promotion playoff.

Since his arrival in February, head coach Franco Foda has led his team to three wins out of six, and the Dardanians will be hopeful they can move up into League B with home games against the bottom two in the group still to come.

Kosovo, who are ranked 104th in the world by FIFA, lost badly to Romania 3-0 in their first match but halted a three-game losing streak last month by defeating them 4-0 in Cyprus. They are now looking for a repeat performance at home.

When Cyprus returned to action this past weekend, they were unable to recover from that crushing loss in September, which was their third consecutive Nations League loss to Kosovo in as many years.

They were defeated 3-0 by the Euro 2024 finalists in Larnaca after falling behind three goals before halftime against Romania. This means they have now lost all six of their previous competitive home games by a combined score of 19-1.

The country, which is ranked 123rd in FIFA's most recent world rankings, is now in third place in Group 2 and faces the possibility of relegation at the halfway point of their most recent Nations League campaign.

However, since Lithuania hasn't gained any points, Sofronis Avgousti's team has a buffer between them and last place, and since second place earns playoff access, promotion isn't completely out of the question.

Cyprus may find it difficult to maintain a clean sheet in Pristina, though, as they have given up 11 goals in their last three encounters with Kosovo.