Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/213780
21 Sport maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 20 NOVEMBER 2013 SPORTTODAY PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL ZAMMIT CUTAJAR / MFA FOOTBALL Malta hold off the Faroe Islands to claim victory Malta ..................3 Faroe Islands .......2 MALTA finally ended a match in victory when they defeated the Faroe Islands 3-2. Malta looked to be heading for a easy victory after they scored three goals in the first half, but a relaxed approach in the second half almost cost them the match in the last ten minutes. Malta immediately started to press and they had their first chance on goal when Andrew Cohen had an attempt on goal with his shot from outside the area, but it was saved by goalkeeper Gunner Nielsen. Malta took the lead on the 17th minute. A powerful shot by Ryan Fenech left no chance for goalkeeper Gunner Nielsen. Three minutes later Malta doubled their lead thanks to Michael Mifsud who dribbled the ball past two defenders and concluded by beating the Faroese goalkeeper with his shot. Faroe Islands replied on the 33rd minute, but Pall Klettskaro's shot was blocked by goalkeeper Andrew Hogg. Malta were three goals up on the 41st minute this time thanks to Jonathan Caruana who scored from close range. Just before the first half ended, the Faroe Islands went close to scoring when Klettskaro's shot scraped the post. The second half was a different story for the Maltese side. Thinking they had their victory sealed, they approached the rest of the match with a more relaxed approach. On the 80th minute, Hallur Hansson's powerful shot from inside the area left no chance for goalkeeper Andrew Hogg to make the score 3-1. On the 87th minute, Rogvi Bladvinsson's shot from outside the area beat goalkeeper Andrew Hogg and the score was now 3-2. The Faroe Islands had their final chance to equalise in the final seconds of the match, but Klettskaro's header was saved by Hogg to secure victory for Malta. Ronaldo carries Portugal to the World Cup RONALDO had given Portugal the lead, only for Zlatan Ibrahimovic to score two and give Sweden some hope, but the Real Madrid forward then scored twice to seal a 4-2 aggregate victory. The opening 30 minutes were very cagey, with Portugal seemingly happy to sit on their lead and slow play down at the back. Sweden started full of intent, trying to hurry their opponents into making a mistake, but could barely keep possession for a sig- nificant period of time, and Ibrahimovic had to drop further and further back to find the ball. Portugal grew into the game in the closing stages of the half, with Cristiano Ronaldo having three good chances in the space of ten minutes, but couldn't convert any of them. However, five minutes after the break he opened the scoring, latching onto a through-ball by Joao Moutinho, and he hammered the ball past Andreas Isaksson. That put Portugal 2-0 up on aggregate with an away goal, leaving Sweden needing three goals to progress. And they almost did it too. Ibrahimovic gave them hope with a header from a Kim Kallstrom corner, then put them within touching distance of qualification after hammering home a low free-kick from the edge of the area. Those hopes were dashed by Ronaldo ten minutes later. He again ran onto a brilliant through-ball by Almeida, and shot low past Isaksson with his left foot. He then put the tie beyond all doubt and completed an extraordinary hat-trick, once again going clean through on goal, taking it just to the left of Isaksson before finishing superbly, despite the presence of two defenders on the line. Ronaldo will be at the World Cup, carrying the Portugal team on his back as he goes. 2014 World Cup qualifying results Romania - Greece .......................1-1 Croatia - Iceland........................ 2-0 Sweden - Portugal .....................2-3 France - Ukraine ........................3-0 Egypt - Ghana ............................ 2-1 Algeria - Burkina Faso ................1-0 International Friendlies Australia - Costa Rica ..................1-0 Kyrgyzatan - Azerbaijan............. 0-0 India - Nepal............................. 2-0 Russia - South Korea .................. 2-1 Slovenia - Canada ......................1-0 Liechtenstein - Estonia...............0-3 MAlta - Faroe Islands ..................3-2 Norway - Scotland...................... 0-1 Turkey - Belarus ......................... 2-1 Gibraltar - Slovakia.................... 0-0 South Africa - Spain ...................1-0 Netherlands - Columbia ............ 0-0 Austria - USA..............................1-0 Poland - Ireland ........................ 0-0 Belgium - Japan.........................2-3 England - Germany .................... 0-1