by Malta will host Hungary at the Centenary Stadium in a friendly at 14:00 this afternoon. Malta’s Manuela Tesse is eyeing a solid performance against the strength of Hungary, while Alexandra Szarvas is calling on her team to deliver for the entire ninety minutes.
Reviewing Friday’s Match Behind Closed Doors
Malta and Hungary will be meeting for the second time in four days, this time on the synthetic pitch at the Centenary Stadium. This follows a closed-door match on the grass at Ta’ Qali Training Grounds last Friday. Hungary came out on top by 3 – 1.
The two coaches were probed about the impact that having the opportunity to play a match away from public view brings to them as coaches, as they prepare their sides for competitive fixtures.
Malta’s coach Manuela Tesse reflected on Friday’s match, “As a coach it does not affect me, but I am sure it affects players because they do not feel the pressure. In fact, before the match we made it clear to them that this is like a training match, to play without pressure and they did. Overall I was happy, because we tried some new positions with some players, so this is a much better situation for them to have time to familiarise themselves.”
Hungary’s Alexandra Szarvas underscored the importance of playing in front of supporters but also acknowledged the desire to play on grass for her side. The latter requirement prompted the match behind closed doors.
She said, “Of course it‘s very nice to play in front of many fans, for the players and for all of us, it‘s always something special. As there are not many grass pitches in Malta which were not already booked, we decided together with Manuela (Tesse) to play at least one game on normal grass. This decision is more about prevention than anything else.”
An Afternoon Match In Mid-Week
The kick-off time of this afternoon’s match at the Centenary Stadium raised eyebrows, with most weekday football played in the evening to maximise spectator attendance. The Malta Football Association responded into queries about the match scheduling, noting that the OSCE government event to be held in Ta’ Qali necessitated a strict lockdown from 5 pm on matchday until the 6th December.
The formal reply underscored that recovery requirements following Friday’s closed-door match, necessitated that the fixture was best to be played today. Further probed into the possibility of other locations to accommodate an evening kick-off, the response received was that logistical requirements yielded the Centenary Stadium as the best solution, with the match to be played at an earlier time.
Assessing Opposition
Hungary and Malta are having their fourth meet in their history, with two previous matches held in October of 2018, with Hungary coming out on top by 1 – 0 and 3 – 0. This before Friday’s friendly. Thus, Hungary has won all three occasions thus far, albeit the two coaches led their teams against each other for the first time last Friday.
Ranked 46th in the world, Hungary have maintained their League B status and will head into February’s UEFA Women’s Nations League campaign with intentions to stay or improve their position. On the other hand, Malta will be fighting for promotion from League C, but comes into these matches following a year of facing adversaries of such rankings or higher.
Questioned about the relevance of facing Hungary in this window, Manuela Tesse remarked, “We wanted to keep playing against a team of the same level as we have been facing in this past year. In the upcoming UEFA Women’s Nations League we will be facing teams of a different level and we will probably have to change our style to develop our attack. However, this match against Hungary is good for us develop our defensive systems.”
Meanwhile, Hungary’s Alexandra Szarvas noted the desire to play these friendlies with the target of developing her side, “To be honest after the play-offs we didn’t have much time to look for an opponent. For us, it was important to play an attractive game, where we can try things out in every phase of the pitch. When I first talked to Manuela (Tesse) she immediately agreed. So, we are happy to be here and both teams played a good first game. Looking forward to the second one.”
The Hungarian coach also acknowledged the warm hospitality by the hosting Football Association, “Thanks to Malta FA for the warm welcome and the people here who are taking care of us.”
Match Expectations
There were rotations for Malta against Hungary, with Alexandra Gatt, Maya Lucia, Jessica Dimech and Giulia D’Antuono all given the nod at the start of the match, together with more frequent faces.
Manuela Tesse suggested that she aims to utilise the match to settle players into positions but that rotation is still very much on the agenda, “I would like to give players more time to familiarise with positions where they are playing in new positions. However, we want to give time to players who did not get so many minutes in the first match as well.”
She continued, “We have a squad and this rotation is something we considered across the two matches. So, we rotated players in the first match and we will continue to do so in this one as well, because we want experienced players to keep their rhythm, while also giving younger players chance to gain experience at this level.”
Malta’s best result against such nations came with a draw against Northern Ireland on away soil, who are ranked 45th in the world, just a place below Hungary. Manuela Tesse was adamant that the team will continue to take to the pitch with a positive mentality of getting results, including against Hungary.
She said, “Of course (we want to get results). We saw that we gave them opportunity in the first match and they took it. It is okay if we concede because of them playing good football, but we must show that we are better than this and not give opportunities to them. They may change their style a bit, but we must be ready to play our game.”
Hungary’s Alexandra Szarvas is eyeing today’s match as another opportunity to continue tweaking her side ahead of the next competitive window, “As there are not many chances to play friendlies nowadays, we appreciate this time to try new things out but at the same time we want to keep the good things and make the next step in our development.”
The two teams will be taking to the pitch at the Centenary Stadium at 14:00 for a final friendly before the international window wraps up this evening. Tickets may be purchased online. The match will be live-streamed on TVM Sports+ and the Malta FA Youtube.
Lead Image: Malta FA
Stay up to date by following The Sporting Fan on social media: Instagram ~ Facebook ~ X
