Soft goal proves costly

Greece 3
Fetfatzidis 8, 64; Papadopoulos 26;
Malta 1
Mifsud 54;

Greece regained their place at the top of Group F after beating Malta 3-1 in Piraeus last night.

With the domestic seasons now closed, it was Malta who suffered most as John Buttigieg’s men lacked the stamina to keep up with the pace in the opening half only to stage a mini-revival after the break that was broken with another soft goal conceded by the national team.

Surprisingly, Buttigieg opted to start with Andrew Hogg in goal and leave the in-form Justin Haber on the bench.

At first, Malta tried to soak up the pressure but lacked ideas and were vulnerable on the flanks where the absence of Carlo Mamo was sorely felt.

Buttigieg’s half-time talk must have lifted his players considerably though as Michael Mifsud pulled one back on 54 minutes and substitute Andrew Cohen was denied by the upright before Greece made it 3-1 after Hogg gave the ball away cheaply inside his box.

Greece knew they could not take chances against Malta and went all out in search of a quick goal.

Kostas Katsouranis failed to connect a few metres out and on four minutes Dimitris Salpingidis was a whisker away from opening the score but his effort flashed past the post. But the hosts did not have to wait too long to open the score.

In fact, four minutes later Giannis Fetfatzidis slid the ball past Hogg from close in after a perfect cross from the industrious Vasilis Torosidis.

Malta were chasing shadows in those opening stages and escaped unscathed on 24 minutes when Salpingidis’s ‘goal’ was ruled out for offside.

However, a second Greece goal was in the air and two minutes later debut man Kyriakos Papadopoulos was on the right spot to head past Hogg from a free-kick.

Greece lifted their foot off the pedal after this goal allowing Malta to see more of the ball.

In a rare Malta attack, Mifsud pounced on a bad clearance by the Greece goalkeeper, released Ryan Fenech but the Valletta midfielder’s shot was blocked to a corner.

Then, just before half-time, a John Hutchinson scorcher from outside the box was half-parried by Dimitris Konstantopoulos and Mifsud deposited the ball inside an empty net. However, the linesman ruled the Maltese player to be in an offside position.

Malta were a revitalised lot after the break and Greece fell back several metres inside their own half to contain the attacking forays of Mifsud and Andre Schembri, in particular.

On 54 minutes, Shaun Bajada released Mifsud with a clever pass from midfield and the Malta captain was quick to slide the ball past Konstantopoulos.

Greece were jaded and Malta were finding more spaces where to manoeuvre.

Cohen replaced Daniel Bogda-novic and less than a minute later he let fly a calibrated left-footer that smacked against the post with the keeper beaten.

The home fans were now booing their own team as Malta ventured forward with purpose. However, hopes of an equaliser were shat-tered on 64 minutes when Greece scored a fortuitous third goal.

Salpingidis’s cross from the flank rolled harmless inside the Malta box but Hogg failed to hold. The loose ball ran kindly for Fetfatzidis who made it 3-1 with an easy tap-in.

Malta again saw their hopes undone by another sharp dip in concentration as Greece played out the remaining minutes, preserving their two-goal lead and making sure they stay top of the group before the qualifiers resume in autumn.

Greece
D. Konstantopoulos; N. Spyropoulos; V. Moras; A. Tziolis; G. Karagounis (P. Kafes 70); D. Salpingidis (K. Mitroglou); V. Torossidis; S. Ninis (L. Christodou-lopoulos 79); K. Katsouranis; K. Papado-poulos; G. Fetfatzidis.

Malta
A. Hogg; J. Caruana; G. Sciberras; A. Agius; R. Fenech; D. Bogdanovic (A. Cohen 59); R. Briffa; M. Mifsud; J. Hutchinson (P. Fenech 87); A. Schembri; S. Bajada (C. Failla 80).

Referee: Pawel Gil (Poland FA).

Yellow card: Papadopoulos.