Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/378361
Sport 19 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2014 PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL ZAMMIT CUTAJAR / MFA SPORTTODAY FOOTBALL Group A Kazakhstan - Latvia .............................0-0 Czech Republic - Netherlands ..............2-1 Iceland - Turkey .................................. 3-0 Group B Andorra - Wales ...................................1-2 Bosnia-Herzegovina - Cyprus ...............1-2 Group H Azerbaijan - Bulgaria ...........................1-2 Croatia - Malta ..................................... 2-0 Norway - Italy ...................................... 0-2 Croatia's Mateo Kovacic tries to keep the ball away from Malta's Ryan Fenech Croatia defeat ten-man Malta Croatia ......................... 2 Malta ........................... 0 CROATIA defeated Malta 2-0 in the first match from Group H of the Euro 2016 qualifiers. Malta started the match on a posi- tive note creating a great scoring op- portunity in the first two minutes of the match. Andre Schembri tested goalkeeper Danijel Subasic from close range. Croatia immediately responded on the fourth minute when a cross by Darwijo Srna was blocked by goal- keeper Andrew Hogg. Croatia started to slowly take con- trol of the match and push Malta back in their own end. The match turned for the worse for Malta when defender Steve Borg was sent off for retaliation on Mario Mandzukic. Malta's coach Pietro Ghedin immediately pulled out Michael Mifsud and replaced him with Balzan defender Steve Bezzina. With two minutes left in the first half, Croatia came close to taking the lead when off a corner, Mandzu- kic's header went just over the bar. Malta managed to hold on until the end of the first half to keep the score 0-0. The home fans showed their frus- tration as they whistled and booed their players off the pitch. With a team including Real Madrid's Luka Modric, Barcelona's Ivan Rakitic, Atletico Madrid's Mario Mandzu- kic and Inter's Meteo Kovacic they expected more. Croatia made sure they started the second half on a good note when they took the lead just after 30 sec- onds of play. A low shot from out- side the area by Luka Moderic beat goalkeeper Andrew Hogg. Croatia continued to dominate the match, but when Malta managed to go on the attack they played good football even though they were a man down. Croatia made sure they collected all the points on the 81st minute. Off a perfect pass by Nikica Jelavic, Andrej Kramaric beat Hogg with his low shot. Malta's goalkeeper Andrew Hogg was in top form as in the final min- utes of the match, Croatia could have easily increased the lead, but fine goalkeeping kept the ball out of the net. CROATIA Danijel Subašić, Hr- voje Milić, Vedran Ćorluka, De- jan Lovren, Ivan Rakitić, Alen Halilović (67' Andrej Kramarić), Luka Modrić, Darijo Srna, Marce- lo Brozović, Mario Mandžukić (79' Ivica Olić), Mateo Kovačić (46'Nikica Jelavić). MALTA Andrew Hog g, Steve Borg, Andrei Agius, Ryan Fenech, Clay- ton Failla, Paul Fenech (87' Ryan Scicluna), Michael Mifsud (33' Ste- ve Bezzina), Andre Schembri, Ro- wen Muscat (76'Bjorn Kristensen), Ryan Camilleri. Referee: Vladislav Bezborodov (RUS) Assistant Referees: Nikolai Gol- ubev, Maksim Gavrilin (RUS) Additional Assistsnt Referees: Sergey Ivanov, Mikhail Vilkov (RUS) Fourth Of ficial: Valeriy Danchenko (RUS) Red Cards: S. Borg Malta's Steve Bezzina and Hrovje Milic fi ght for the ball Euro 2016 Qualifi ers