U17 EURO Qualifications: Taking Stock of Malta’s Performance In Round 2

Malta’s U17 Women’s National Team hosted matches in Group B5, which resulted in a tough set of results. The Maltese contingent lost to eventual group winners Northern Ireland, while only managing a draw against Luxembourg this time round. Coach Vince Galea provided his assessment on the tournament, while also probed about the path ahead.

Assessing The Tournament

The Maltese contingent suffered a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the group winners Northern Ireland, before rescuing a 1-1 draw against Luxembourg. All in all, the team ended with equal points to Luxembourg, a team who Malta beat in the first round of fixtures last September, while having a goal difference inferior to that of Luxembourg by one goal.

Coach Vince Galea conceded that the results fell short of the team’s objectives ahead of the tournament, “We were expecting better performances. However, this is work in process and we hope that these two games will be another learning step for this group of players.”

The team conceded two early goals in the opening match against Northern Ireland. Although the Maltese team got a response in the 24th minute through a corner, the Irish team restored the two-goal lead within three minutes.

It appeared that the proceedings stunted the forward momentum. However, Vince Galea rejected that there was any element of the team preferring to protect against a big scoreline in the second half as opposed to going for the points.

Assessing the performance, Galea said, “Without a doubt, the early goals we conceded conditioned our game. It took some time for our players to get into the rhythm. However, our best moment in the first half was quickly punished by the third goal after we scored to get to 1-2. During the second half, Northern Ireland controlled the game while we found difficulty to create goal scoring opportunities.”

The team ended the tournament with a 1-1 draw against Luxembourg, who also delivered an early goal. Although Malta drew, the team could not convert it into a winning performance.

Asked whether the result is acceptable considering the team was down to ten in the final twenty minutes, Galea replied, “If we see the result in isolation, we are not happy with it, especially with the performance of the first half. We saw a very improved Luxembourg team from the first round and the early goal once again conditioned our game. In the second half, our players were sharper and although we went one player down we created enough chances to win this game.”

Looking Ahead

The two rounds provide a picture of where Malta’s youth squad stands against the teams who were relegated from League A (in Croatia & Northern Ireland), while the repeat against Luxembourg gave some picture into the progression over the season.

Asked about elements which would be crucial to get the Maltese squad up to the standard of winning matches against League B nations like Luxembourg convincingly, while also being able to challenge nations like Croatia, Vince Galea replied, “Definitely we need to have more international games/friendlies during the season, so the players can approach these qualifiers with more confidence, knowledge and experience.”

The team played two friendlies over the December international window, between the two rounds. These were played against local senior squads of San Gwann and Lija Athletic. Playing a friendly together as a team, as opposed to not playing any matches, is certainly important. On the other hand, one notes that most players in the U17 National Women’s Team already featured in their club senior squads against such teams. In this regard, perhaps such friendlies offer limited new insight, or rather, such matches offer a challenge that players can already face at club level, for those in the majority who play locally.

Asked about the preparation for the next cycles of fixtures, Vince Galea hinted at a transitional stage, “We are still to plan the way forward for the coming season since the majority of these players will be participating in the WU19 qualifiers with the 2008’s who can play either the WU19 or the WU17s qualifiers.”

Until then, players will be hard at work with their clubs in search of taking themselves to the next level as footballers.

Lead Image: Joe Borg

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