European Championship Qualifying
September 2, 2010
Israel
3 - 1
Malta
Group F
19:15 BST, September 2, 2010
Ramat Gan Stadium, Israel
Referee: Said Ennjimi
Benayoun inspires Israel win
Associated
Yossi Benayoun celebrates scoring against Malta
Scoring Summary
| Israel | Malta |
|---|---|
| Yossi Benayoun (7') | Jamie Pace (38') |
| Yossi Benayoun (pen 65') | |
| Yossi Benayoun (75') |
Teams
| Israel | Malta |
|---|---|
| 1 Dudu Aouate | 1 Andrew Hogg |
| 3 Tal Ben-Haim | 3 Carlo Mamo |
| 19 Deddi Ben Dayan | 5 Andrei Agius |
| 4 Dani Bondar | 2 Jonathan Caruana |
| 15 Yossi Benayoun | 16 Edward Herrera |
| 21 Tamir Cohen | 4 Gareth Sciberras |
| 10 Lior Rafaelov | 8 Roderick Briffa |
| 7 Baram Kayal | 18 Jamie Pace |
| 16 Eran Zahavi | 11 Shaun Bajada |
| 8 Almog Cohen | 9 Michael Mifsud |
| 17 Ben Sahar | 7 Daniel Bogdanovic |
| Substitutes | |
| 18 Ohad Levita | Mario Muscat 12 |
| 13 Dekel Keinan | Massimo Grima 17 |
| 14 Yoav Ziv | Manny Muscat 15 |
| 6 Shlomi Arbaitman | Clayton Failla 13 |
| 11 Gil Vermot | Ryan Fenech 6 |
| 9 Eyal Golsa | Paul Fenech 14 |
| 22 Yuval Avidor | Andrew Cohen 10 |
| Substitutions | |
| Gil Vermot for Eran Zahavi (51) | Andrew Cohen for Daniel Bogdanovic (57) |
| Shlomi Arbaitman for Ben Sahar (73) | Manny Muscat for Edward Herrera (80) |
| Eyal Golsa for Baram Kayal (86) | Clayton Failla for Roderick Briffa (82) |
| Yellow Cards | |
| Yossi Benayoun (40) | Andrei Agius (34) |
| Andrew Cohen (61) | |
| Jamie Pace (90) | |
| · Squads: Israel | Malta | |
Yossi Benayoun struck a hat-trick as Israel started their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign with a home victory over Malta.
Benayoun, who joined Chelsea from Liverpool earlier this summer, broke the deadlock for Luis Fernandez's side after seven minutes at the Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv.Jamie Pace levelled for the visitors eight minutes before the break, heading Roderick Briffa's free-kick past Dudu Aouate, but the hosts took command after the interval.Benayoun doubled his tally from the penalty spot in the 64th minute after Almog Cohen was fouled by Malta substitute Andrew Cohen.The former West Ham midfielder then made the points safe by directing a header past Andrew Hogg after the visiting goalkeeper had saved substitute Gil Vermouth's initial effort 15 minutes from time.