Despite Malta’s well-known struggles, they are heading into this fixture on the back of beating Israel 2-1 in September.
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Greece will hope to continue its good run of form under new head coach Gus Poyet when they take on Malta in a friendly. The upcoming fixture will be nothing more than a confidence-building exercise for these two sets of squads since they both have failed to book a ticket to the upcoming World Cup. While Malta never looked like securing a place in Qatar, the same cannot be said for Greece. It is the second successive World Cup Greece have failed to qualify.
| Malta vs Greece | Key details |
| Date | November 17 |
| Venue | Ta’ Qali National Stadium |
| Kickoff time in India | 10:30 pm |
| Kickoff time in Malta | 6 pm |
| Kickoff time in Greece | 7 pm |
However, they have seemed to have found their confidence in recent games, going on an impressive run. In the Nations League, Greece topped League C Group 2 with 15 points from six games and suffered just one loss throughout the course of the tournament. They will undoubtedly head into this clash as the heavy favourites against a Malta side that has been struggling to find any rhythm. They finished second in League D Group 2 with six points from four games.
Read More – Malta vs Greece: Records, Stats, Goals, Head to Head & everything to know
Despite Malta’s well-known struggles, they are heading into this fixture on the back of beating Israel 2-1 in September. Hence, they could very well go with more-or-less the same squad that helped them in that victory. On the other hand, Greece have left out some noticeable names such as Stuttgart defender Dinos Mavropanos, Liverpool full-back Kostas Tsimikas and Benfica goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos. There are only two friendlies left to be played for both sides this year, hence a lot of rotation can happen in their respective lineups.
Malta possible line-up: Bonello, Pepe, J. Borg, S. Borg, J. Mbong, Kristensen, Guillaumier, Camenzuli, Teuma, Degabriele, Satariano
Greece possible line-up: Barkas, Rota, Tzavellas, Chatzidiakos, Kyriakopoulos, Bakasetas, Mantalos, Kourbelis, Masouras, Pelkas, Ioannidis
Malta
| Opponents | Score |
| Israel | 2-1 (W) |
| Estonia | 2-1 (L) |
| San Marino | 1-0 (W) |
| Estonia | 1-2 (L) |
| San Marino | 0-2 (W) |
Greece
| Opponents | Score |
| Northern Ireland | 3-1 (W) |
| Cyprus | 1-0 (L) |
| Kosovo | 2-0 (W) |
| Cyprus | 3-0 (W) |
| Kosovo | 0-1 (W) |
| Last 5 matches (all competitions) | Results |
| Greece beat Malta | 3-1 |
| Malta lose to Greece | 0-1 |
| Greece beat Malta | 5-0 |
| Malta lose to Greece | 0-1 |
| Malta draw Greece | 1-1 |
The international friendly match between Malta and Greece will take place at Ta’ Qali National Stadium on Thursday at 10:30 pm IST.
The international friendly match between Malta and Greece can be seen on TVMSport+ in Malta; and Cosmote Sport 1 HD in Greece.
