Malta and Latvia look to bounce back

Malta and Latvia both conceded three in opening Group F defeats and will look to get their respective campaigns on track in Ta' Qali in the two nations' first competitive meeting.UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying Group F rivals Malta and Latvia will be facing off for the first time in a competitive encounter, having previously met three times in friendly outings.Having lost 3-1 to Israel – for whom Yossi Benayoun scored a hat-trick in their Group F opener in Tel Aviv, Malta and their coach John Buttigieg are nonetheless optimistic of gaining a result against Latvia. "We all knew that the Israel match would be very difficult," Buttigieg, who has replaced Paul Fenech with Ivan Woods, told UEFA.com Despite being under early pressure my team reacted well and even drew level with a goal from [Jamie] Pace. Again we conceded two goals which we could have avoided. From then on it was impossible to recover. Our immediate objective is now Latvia − another difficult match but not impossible."