Greece scored twice in the first fifteen minutes to defeat Malta 2-0 in a friendly match at the MGG Arena in Grödig, Austria, on Tuesday.
Greece had a perfect start, taking the lead in the 7th minute when Rashed Al Tumi brought down Vangelos Pavlidis inside the area. Tasos Bakasetas converted the resulting penalty kick.
Eight minutes later, Greece doubled their score. Teddy Teuma lost the ball to Giorgos Masouras, who served the ball to Vangelos Pavlidis. Off Pavlidis's assist, Christos Tzolis beat Rashed Al Tumi with a fine shot.
Malta went close to reducing the gap in the 31st minute when Teddy Teuma released Paul Mbong, whose conclusion from outside the area was partially saved by the goalkeeper, who then managed to anticipate and deny Teuma's close-range follow-up.
In the second half, the Maltese were a much-improved side, creating several goalscoring opportunities. Their best chance occurred in the 75th minute when Matthew Guillaumier’s header from a Kemar Reid cross was cleared off the goal line. Five minutes later, a Kyrian Nwoko effort was turned into a corner by the Greek goalkeeper.
MALTA: Rashed Al-Tumi, Jean Borg (89' Luke Tabone), Ryan Camenzuli, Kurt Shaw, Matthew Guillaumier, Teddy Teuma, Paul Mbong (72' Kyrian Nwoko), Juan Corbalan, Nikolai Muscat (89' Dunstan Vella), Jurgen Degabriele (46' Kemar Reid), Zach Muscat.
GREECE: Kostas Tzolakis (81' Christos Mandas), Manolis Saliakas (81' Theocharis Tsingaras), Kostantinos Koulierakis, Dimitris Kourbelis, Giorgos Masouras (61' Dimitris Limnios), Vangelis Pavlidis (61' Tasos Douvikas), Christos Tzolis, Tasos Bakasetas, Panagiotis Retsos (74' Andreas Ntoi), Petros Mantalos (61' Giannis Kotsiras), Giorgios Kyriakopoulos.
Referee: Alan Kijas (AUT)
Assistant referees: Michael Obritzberger, Maximilian Weiss (AUT)
Fourth official: Arnes Talic (AUT)
