by Malta’s U17 Women’s National Team finished as runners-up in round 1 of the UEFA Women’s U17 EURO Championship in Group B3. The Sporting Fan spoke with coach Vince Galea on the team’s growth in Croatia and the bearing of the week’s events on the future of the team.
Assessing Overall Performance
Prior to embarking to Croatia, The Sporting Fan spoke with coach Vince Galea about having chosen an experienced selection for the age group, which he hoped would be able to rise to the challenge. Considering this, the coach was asked about how coming in second place stacks up against the aims that the team had when going into the tournament.
Galea spoke not just about the results but also about the long-term vision. He said, “With our youth teams, we are working with the aim to change our mentality. We approach these tournaments and games with two main objectives: to give more tools to our players to develop individually and as a team to be very competitive at this international level. Finishing second with two wins out of three games is a massively positive result for these players, the team and the women’s football in Malta.”
On The Defeat To Croatia
Despite finishing in second place with two victories to their name, things started on a sour note as the team opened their commitments with a heavy 8-0 defeat against Croatia. The Croatians went on to have a perfect tournament with three wins out of three to get themselves sure promotion back into League A.
Having just been relegated into League B, Croatia was expected to be the toughest encounter but falling to such a heavy defeat against them will have a major bearing on Malta’s chances of promotion. This is since as runners-up the chance to be promoted will be based on having the best result against the first and third-placed teams in the group.
Asked whether the team lacked confidence going into the match, Galea replied, “The team was well prepared for all three games. The players might have felt the excitement of the first match being played in a large stadium and against such an opposition. However, we must keep in mind that in the first half hour we were still locked at 0-0, with Croatia having few chances and with us having two good occasions to open the score. Unfortunately, then we conceded two quick goals before half time, which changed the dynamic of the game.” He continued, “This was a big learning experience for our players, that performance and focus should stay at the maximum level until the end of the game.”
Probed on whether he thought the outcome might have been different had the match come later on in the week, Galea replied, “It might be the case. Our objective should be that in the coming rounds this season and during the coming seasons, the players can confront these types of opponents with more resilience and concentration levels.”
Bouncing Back With Two Victories
The coach was probed about the team’s morale following the defeat, and how the team went about picking themselves up to prepare for the fixtures against Luxembourg and Azerbaijan. He said, “The morale was very low, however we made it clear that in this type of tournament there is no time to think about regrets.”
In line with this, the team set out to focus on the two remaining matches, “Our medical team worked very hard to help the players physically recover from the opening match. Meanwhile, through analysis and pitch work, the coaching team showed the aspects of the game to be improved, especially those defensively, which the players responded to very positively. It was just a matter of going for the second match calmly and believe that our players are capable of overcoming this moment and to grow from the experience.”
The match against Luxembourg went down to the wire, with substitute Sara Saliba scoring late on and then the team held on to the lead until the final whistle. The coach was asked about the importance of successfully seeing out the match in the context of the players’ future at international level. Galea replied, “The concentration and commitment levels of our players and team during this match were top class. We knew that by controlling our emotions and pushing on we will get the deserved win. It was a joy for us technical staff to see all our squad so happy after the match, for their reaction to the initial defeat and the unity showed.”
The final match against Azerbaijan started on the wrong foot after the team conceded early on. However, Malta came back to win the match convincingly after Kaysia Micallef had drawn level mid-way through the first half.
Noting the immediate response in the restart to go ahead in the match, the coach was questioned about his half-time team talk. He said, “We had no doubt that if our players play with confidence, creativity, and focus, we will overcome even this hurdle of conceding an early goal that negatively affected the morale in the first part of the game. During half time, we showed some instances where we believed the team can improve from a tactical aspect and the message was very clear; to play with rhythm and confidence.”
The Next Steps
The team completed their commitments in round 1 and will now have to patiently observe the outcomes develop in other groups, which will continue into November, to see whether they will play round 2 in League A or B. However, beyond the results themselves, throughout the week there were a number rotations in the squad which led to numerous first appearances, goals, saves, tackles and assists for the young team.
Asked about his overall impression of the attitude, teamwork and professionalism brought by the youngsters to be able to secure this positive run of results, Galea said, “This group of players have a strong unity and during these past three weeks, their attitude and teamwork became stronger every single day.”
Speaking of their overall development, he continued, “Our responsibility is to trust them and to believe in every one of them, whilst giving them the tools to perform better which will help them develop into future national team players. We are happy to have seen the improvements individually and we are looking forward for the coming training camps in October and November to continue our work with these players.”
Lead Image: Malta FA
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[…] U17 National Women’s Team made a splash with a second-placed return to the Women’s U17 EURO Qualification Championship, following a two-year hiatus. They will be […]