Triple Cypriot presence at Juventus - Spurs friendly

Three young Cypriots featured in the high-end friendly game between Juventus and Tottenham Hotspur in Singapore for the International Champions Cup. Spurs were the big winners by a score of 3:2. Erik Lamela, Lucas Moura, and Harry Kane scored for the Champions League finalists, while Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo scored for the Italian champions.

Mauricio Pochettino featured Anthony Georgiou in the Spurs starting eleven, with the 22-year-old winger playing 71 minutes before being subbed off by Harvey White. Georgiou first debuted with the Cypriot national team in March 2018 in a friendly against Montenegro. He has been a regular callup by Ran Ben Shimon, participating in all four games thus far in Euro 2020 qualifying. He registered one assist in the 2:1 away defeat to Scotland.

Jack Roles, in his first unofficial game with the Tottenham Hotspur senior men’s squad, got into the game in the 63rd minute with the 20-year-old midfielder replacing Harry Winks. Roles has been playing for the Cypriot U19 national team, and now for the U21s, and is considered a great prospect.

On the other hand, Grigoris Kastanos was introduced in the game by La Vecchia Signora’s newly appointed coach Maurizio Sarri, in the 73rd minute in place of Blaise Matuidi. The 21-year-old attacking midfielder already has 19 caps with the Cypriot national team and a goal in a 2:1 away defeat against Bulgaria in the Nations League. Widely considered the Cypriot player with the highest expectations, the Sotira, Famagusta native awaits to see if Sarri will keep him at Juventus or if he will be loaned out to get more playing time.

All in all, Cyprus can only benefit from the game time of the three international players in such an important friendly fixture housing two of the best teams in the world. Though the national team has shown passion and heart in their recent games, it is obvious that they lack players with the individual talent and experience that can make the difference. The experience gained for these players to appear in such quality games is very valuable and will help them in their future careers both at the club and international level. All Cypriot fans expect a lot from these three prospects.

Hopefully, they will live up to the expectations and help the Cypriot national team in the near future.

by Marios Antoniou

Image Source: kerkida.net

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