MALTA…..0
GREECE…5
The Malta Under-21 national team began their UEFA European Championship qualifying campaign with a difficult 5-0 loss against Greece at the Centenary Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Greece started strongly and took control early on. In the 14th minute, Stavros Pnevmonidis opened the scoring after a lofted ball wasn’t cleared by the Maltese defence.
Although Malta gradually grew into the game and managed to push Greece back for parts of the first half, they conceded again just before the break. A misplaced pass from Luca Camilleri was picked up by Georgios Koutsias, who calmly chipped the ball into the empty net, making it 2-0 at half-time.
At the start of the second half, Malta made two attacking substitutions, bringing on Sean Gatt and Jake Grech. The changes gave Malta more of the ball and improved their attacking play, but Greece continued to find space on the counter.
In the 54th minute, Koutsias added a third goal after running straight through the Maltese defence and slotting the ball past the goalkeeper. Nine minutes later, Pnevmonidis scored his second and Greece’s fourth with a well-placed shot following a clever flick outside the box.
Malta had a good moment in the second half when Jake Azzopardi tried a long-range shot, but it went over the bar. Goalkeeper Luca Camilleri also made a strong save to deny Athanasios Koutsogoulas from adding to Greece’s lead.
Despite some defensive improvements, Malta conceded a fifth goal in the final minute. Dimitris Rallis capitalised on a poor touch at the back and finished calmly.
The match ended 5-0 in favour of Greece. Malta will now prepare for their next two qualifiers against Northern Ireland on 9 October and Georgia on 14 October.
Malta Line-up:
Luca Camilleri (GK), Sven Xerri, Benjamin Hili, Andy Borg, Jake Vassallo, Jake Micallef (C) (sub: Jake Grech 46’), Nathan Cross (sub: Nicholas Agius 68’), Jake Azzopardi, Keyon Ewurum (sub: Sean Gatt 46’), Lucas Scicluna (sub: Lucas Caruana 68’), Joshua Pitts (sub: Finley Ging 68’)
Coach: Davide Mazzotta
Greece Line-up:
Nikolaos Botis (GK), Athanasios Koutsogoulas, Noa Tzeims Alen, Alexios Kalogeropoulos (C), Christos Alexiou, Theofanis Bakoulas (sub: Evangelos Nikolaou 28’), Stavros Pnevmonidis (sub: Ioannis Gavriil Bokos 78’), Konstantinos Gkoumas (sub: Ioannis Apostolakis 78’), Georgios Koutsias (sub: Dimitris Rallis 57’), Antonios Papakanellos (sub: Ioannis Theodosoulakis 57’), Adriano Bregou
Coach: Ioannis Taousianis
Referee: Miloš Savović
