Both teams were keen on winning - Cyprus after a surprise away win in Zenica (Bosnia), Israel a right-foot opener to their campaign. At the end, Israel had the upper hand after leading 2-0 at half-time.

referee
Mr. Orsato has climbed quickly through FIFA and UEFA rankings, already having some CL group-stage games behind in the 2013-2014 season. On the evening he proved to be a very good assessor of foulqnon-foul play. However, he proved inconsistent when considering advantage options. Some impeccable applications of the advantage rule (6', 49', 80') compenstated for cases where he robbed teams and players of using advantage for their benefit (50', 60', 90'+2'). I also didn't like his behaviour when Ben Haim (israel was substituted (74'). As the score-line was 2-1, the player walked slowly towards the touch-line. The referee didn't like it, but his reaction was unbecoming - he ran quickly, grabbed the player and pulled him aggressively, enabling himself to brandish the yellow card in front of the player and not behind his back: the idea was right, the execution - wrong.

ars
The assistant referees were lacklustre. Cariolato was yet sleepy during the first half (e.g. 25', 29', 44), while Manganelly was involved in quite a few suspect onside/offside decisions in the second half (56', 62', 73).

From our reporter: adir