Greece brush aside Malta in 3-1 victory

Greece dominated the match from the start and it did not take long before they had a two- goal advantage.

In the second half, Malta improved and managed to reduce the gap but Greece killed of the match by scoring their third goal.

Greece took the lead on the 7^th minute. Katsouranis setup Ionnis Fetfatzidis with a precise pass to have the latter put the ball past Malta goalkeeper Andrew Hogg.

Greece thought they scored another goal on the 25^th  minute, but it was disallowed because of Greece striker Salpingidis being waved offside.

On the 27^th  minute, Greece would not be denied as they doubled the score. Off a freekick from Karagounis, Kyrikos was on target after he headed the ball in.

The first half ended with Greece having a two goal lead.

The second half started with a much more improved Maltese side.

Just nine minutes into the second half, Shaun Bajada served Michael Mifsud who made no mistake by beating Greece goalkeeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulous.

With the gap reduced, the Maltese team started to gain confidence and looked more dangerous.

Substitute Andrew Cohen was very unlucky not to score the second for Malta when his powerful shot hit the woodwork. Two minutes later Michael Mifsud had another chance, but it was saved the hosts goalkeeper.

Greece put the match out of reach on the 63^rd minute.

Hogg did not save a cross from Salpingidis and off the rebound an unmarked Fetfatzidis easily placed the ball at the back of the net to make it 3-1.

Other results of the UEFA EURO 2012 qualifiers:

Group A

Kazakhstan 2 – 1 Azerbaijan
Austria 1 -2 Germany
Belgium 1 -1 Turkey

Group B

Russia 3 – 1 Armenia
Slovakia 1 – 0 Andorra
Rep. of Macedonia 0 – 2 Rep. of Ireland

Group C

Faroe Islands 0 – 2 Slovenia
Italy 3 – 0 Estonia

Group D

Romania 3 – 0 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Belarus 1 – 1 France

Group E

Moldova 1 – 4 Sweden
San Marino 0 – 1 Finland

Group F

Croatia 2 – 1 Georgia
Latvia 1 – 2 Israel
Greece 3 – 1 Malta

Group G

England 2 – 2 Switzerland
Montenegro 1 – 1 Bulgaria

Group H

Iceland 0 – 2 Denmark
Portugal 1 – 0 Norway

Group I

Liechtenstein 2 – 0 Lithuania