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VIDEO | Euro2010, Malta succumbs to Latvian opportunism
Malta 0 - Latvia 2
Latvia beat Malta 2-0 with goals from Kaspars Gorkss (43 min) and Maris Verpakovskis (88 min) to earn their first points in Euro 2012 qualifying Group F. The Maltese national team also hit the woodwork during the second half.
Captain Gorkss and Verpakovskis struck late in each half to draw the sting out of a battling Malta side keen to atone for their 3-1 defeat away to Israel in their opener last Thursday. Latvia, who were thrashed 3-0 at home by Croatia in their first qualifier of the campaign on Friday, forced the tempo in the initial stages with Juris Laizans bossing the midfield.
After 13 minutes, Laizans almost put Latvia ahead but his curling freekick from an acute angle crashed against the bar.
The hosts improved as the first half gathered pace and came close to taking the lead midway through the opening period.
Andrew Cohen’s quickly-taken freekick unsettled the Latvia defence as the Malta forward’s long ball invited the speedy Michael Mifsud to run forward.
The Malta captain made headway in the box but his shot was palmed away by Latvia goalkeeper Andris Vanins. Malta’s growing optimism suffered a blow when Latvia took the lead just over two minutes before halftime.
Aleksandrs Cauna’s inswinging freekick was met by Gorkss whose header flew past Malta goalkeeper Andrew Hogg. Hogg then parried away a strong drive by Verpakovskis in the dying seconds of the first period.
Carmel Borg •
should read - *some form of resistance...
Carmel Borg •
...misleadingly indicates that they actually put up form of resistance to begin with.
