Dramatic fightback foils Malta
Wednesday, February 12, 2003
Article summary
Malta 2-2 Kazakhstan Home hopes of a morale-boosting win are ended by two late goals.
Article body
Malta 2-2 Kazakhstan
Early lead
The home side went ahead through a close-range strike from Daniel Bogdanovic after only 15 minutes of play. Chucks Nwoko then doubled the home side’s advantage on the hour mark, scoring his first goal for Malta with a spectacular diving header that gave Kazakhstan goalkeeper Yuri Novikov no chance.
Dramatic finale
The two-goal cushion seemed certain to be a winning margin as the match moved into the final 20 minutes, only for Maxim Schevchenko to pull a goal back for Kazakhstan with 17 minutes remaining to ensure a frantic finish. The home side then saw their lead disappear completely as Evgeniy Tarasov equalised seven minutes from time to salvage a draw for UEFA’s newest member association.
European adventure
In the UEFA European Championship standings, Malta are bottom of Group 1 with no points from their four games so far, and are next away to leaders and reigning European champions France on 29 March, who have a maximum nine points from their three games. France won 4-0 in Valletta in October.
