Czech Republic 1

Malta 0

Tomas Necid scored a second-half goal yesterday to give the Czech Republic a 1-0 win over Malta in a friendly ahead of World Cup qualifying.

The CSKA Moscow striker picked up his second international goal with a left-footed shot from inside the area in the 77th minute.

New Czech coach Frantisek Straka fielded a largely inexperienced team, selecting seven newcomers in the starting lineup.

The Czechs failed to convert many chances and were lucky in the second half when goalkeeper Zdenek Zlamal twice denied substitute Kevin Sammut in solid scoring opportunities.

Malta coach Dusan Fitzel fielded two Maltese-Australians Manny Muscat and John Hutchinson who both made their debuts.

The Malta squad will now travel to Gothenburg were they will Sweden next Wednesday in a Group 1 World Cup qualifier.

Czech Republic: Tomas Grigar (Zdenek Zlamal, 46), Roman Hubnik, Jan Simunek, Erich Brabec (Martin Klein, 53), Michal Kadlec (Radek Sirl, 46), Daniel Kolar, Tomas Hubschman, Martin Fillo (David Limbersky, 46), Jaroslav Cerny (Daniel Pudil, 46), Lukas Magera (David Lafata, 46), Tomas Necid.

Malta: Andrew Hogg (Mario Muscat, 46), Emanuel Muscat (Roderick Briffa, 46), Luke Dimech, Jonathan Caruana (Andrei Agius, 46), Shaun Bajada, Alexander Muscat, John Hutchinson, Ryan Fenech (Ian Azzopardi, 73), Andre Schembri (Jamie Pace, 76), Andrew Cohen (Kevin Sammut, 46), Daniel Bogdanovic.