Malta national football team

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Malta

Nickname

Association

Malta Football Association

Confederation

UEFA (Europe)

Head coach

Dušan Fitzel

Most caps

David Carabott (121)

Top scorer

Carmel Busuttil (23)

Home stadium

Ta'Qali Stadium

FIFA code

MLT

FIFA ranking

111

Highest FIFA ranking

66 (September 1994)

Lowest FIFA ranking

144 (September 2006)

Elo ranking

149





First kit





Second kit

First international

Malta 2 - 3 Austria

(Gżira, Malta; February 24, 1957)

Biggest win

Malta 5 - 0 Azerbaijan

(Ta' Qali, Malta; April 19, 1994)

Biggest defeat

Spain 12 - 1 Malta

(Seville, Spain; December 21, 1983)

The Malta national football team is the national football team of Malta and is controlled by the Malta Football Association. It has never advanced to the finals of any major international competition and as of 12 October 2006 has won only four competitive matches. The first two wins were victories of 2-0 and 2-1 at home to Greece and Iceland in European Championship qualifiers in 1975 and 1982 respectively, and the third came with a 1-0 victory away to Estonia in a 1993 World Cup qualifier.

On 11 October 2006, Malta managed a fourth competitive victory - a 2-1 triumph over Hungary in the European Championship qualifying with Andre Schembri scoring twice.

Other important results were the two draws, 1-1 and 2-2, against Hungary during the qualification for the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

During 2005 the Malta national football team obtained some home positive results. Both were 1-1 draws against Croatia and Bulgaria. Another positive result was the 1-1 home draw in a friendly match against Northern Ireland . In 2006, in a friendly against Japan, played for the World Cup Finals preparation in Germany, managed to keep the score to 0-1 despite conceding an early goal.

On the 7th. Febraury 2007, Malta managed another prestigous draw against one of the hosts of Euro 2008, Austria. The game was played to commemorate the 50th. anniversary of the first international match played by the Maltese national team. The final result was 1-1.

Euro 2008:

1 Malta 2 Bosnia & Herzegovina 5
2 Turkey 2 Malta 0
3 Malta 2 Hungary 1
4 Moldova 1 Malta 1
5 Malta 0 Greece 1
6 Current squad
7 World Cup record
8 European Championship record
9 External link

[edit] Malta 2 Bosnia & Herzegovina 5

In the current Euro 2008 qualifiers, Malta lost against Bosnia national football team 2-5 at the Ta'Qali Stadium. Jamie Pace managed to score a magnificent goal from outside the box to make the score level, 1-1, after Sergej Barbarez scored the first goal of the match. However, the experience and teamwork of the Bosnians outperformed the Maltese team, and managed to score two other goals before they end of the first half by Mirko Hrgović and Mladen Bartolović. The Bosnians continued to dominate possession, and were creating danger from the wings. They managed to score two more goals in the second half by Zlatan Muslimović and Zvjezdan Misimović, to make the score 5-1. However, the Maltese started to regain confidence, especially when the Bosnian star, Sergej Barbarez, was substituted. Malta started to create more opportunities up front, and finally, on the 85th. minute, Michael Mifsud managed to score a goal. They could have reduced the goal difference by more in the last minutes of the game.

[edit] Turkey 2 Malta 0

In the second game, Malta encountered Turkey national football team in a David and Goliath battle. The game was played in Commerzbank Arena, Frankfurt, because the UEFA banned the Turkish natioanl team to play in their country. Malta defended very well throughout the game, and it was only on the 56th. minute that Nihat Kahveci scored the first goal for Turkey. Tümer Metin added the second for the Turkish football team, 21 minutes later. During the game, goalie Justin Haber and defender Brian Said, managed to lead the defence, and keep the score low.

[edit] Malta 2 Hungary 1

Malta played the third game back in the Ta'Qali Stadium, on the 11th. October 2006. Early in the game, Malta already showed that their intentions were to attack the opponents. Hungary national football team contained quality players such as Sándor Torghelle, Gábor Király, Pál Dárdai and Zoltán Gera in their starting line-up. However, it was Andre Schembri who scored after 14th. minutes of play with a simple tap-in after Michael Mifsud hit the bar. Sandor Torghelle equalised soon after. It seemed that Malta were going to lose control of the game, until Vilmos Vanczák was sent off. Michael Mifsud operated a fast counter-attack, and forced the chasing Hungarian defender to tackle from behind. From that point in time till the end of the game, the Maltese dominated the game. Andre Schembri scored the winning goal on the 53rd. minute, and players such as Terence Scerri, Jamie Pace, and Gilbert Agius missed several other chances to make the score even bigger. The Hungarians tried to attack using the wings, and take an advantage over the sloppy defending at the back of the home team. Finally, the referee blew the final whistle, and the celebration for the fourth competitive victory ever had begun! The man of match was Michael Mifsud who left an important impression that will certainly affect his future.

[edit] Moldova 1 Malta 1

On the 24th.March 2007, Malta had to play their fourth game in the Zimbru Stadium at Chisinau. The stadium was packed with Moldovan supporters together with some 50 Maltese fans who went there to see their heroes playing against a modest team in Europe. From the first few minutes, one could notice that the game was aggressive, and both team fouled each other when they lost possession of the ball. As the game progressed Moldova were looking to be superior and created attacking opportunites one after the other. However, the first noticeable event came when the Moldovans were awarded a penalty on the 24th. minute. But our hero, Justin Haber, dived low to his right to save Viorel Frunza's kick. In the beginning of the second half, the home team continued to bombard our defense, but still Justin Haber and his defensive colleagues managed to keep them from scoring. And, later on, Ivan Woods counter-attacked from the right wing, to cross a low ball which ended up in George Mallia's leg, who put the ball past their goalie. Unfortunately, the pressure from Moldova was more than we could manage, and Alexander Epureanu headed the ball into the net from a corner. The goal led to two players, Luke Dimech and Serghei Dadu, being sent off, when a brawl started in the Maltese goal. Finally, the Maltese managed to hang on for draw, after some other scares at the defensive line. They could still regained the lead when Michael Mifsud (now playing in England) dribbled past 4 opponents but saw his shot going straight through the goaler's hands. Malta managed to win another point for a total of 4 points in 4 matches, an impressive record for our limited standards.

[edit] Malta 0 Greece 1

On March 28, Malta were unlucky to lose 1-0 to the current European Champions, Greece, in a match played at the Ta'Qali Stadium.

[edit] Current squad

The Current Euro 2008 First Team Squad:[1]

[edit] Goalkeepers

Name	Position	Date of Birth	Place of Birth	Club
Justin Haber	Goalkeeper	June 9, 1981	Valletta	Marsaxlokk
Mario Muscat	Goalkeeper	August 18, 1976	Paola	Hibernians

[edit] Defenders

Name	Position	Date of Birth	Place of Birth	Club
Ian Azzopardi	Defender	August 12, 1982	Floriana	Floriana
Ian Ciantar	Defender	December 19, 1975	Sliema	Sliema Wanderers
Luke Dimech	Defender	January 11, 1977	Valletta	Marsaxlokk
Josef Mifsud	Defender	September 7, 1984	Pietà	Msida Saint-Joseph
Peter Pullicino	Defender	June 17, 1976	Sydney	Marsaxlokk
Brian Said	Defender	May 15, 1973	Valletta	Sliema Wanderers
Kenneth Scicluna	Defender	June 15, 1979	Valletta	Birkirkara
Stephen Wellman	Defender	August 31, 1982	Zurrieq	Marsaxlokk

[edit] Midfielders

Name	Position	Date of Birth	Place of Birth	Club
Roderick Bajada	Midfielder	January 4, 1983	Hamrun	Sliema Wanderers
Etienne Barbara	Midfielder	June 10, 1982	Valletta	Birkirkara
Roderick Briffa	Midfielder	August 24, 1981	Valletta	Birkirkara
Trevor Cilia	Midfielder	January 2, 1983	Floriana	Floriana
George Mallia	Midfielder	October 10, 1978	Sliema	Birkirkara
Claude Mattocks	Midfielder	February 21, 1980	Valletta	Sliema Wanderers
Jamie Pace	Midfielder	January 1, 1977	Valletta	Marsaxlokk
Kevin Sammut	Midfielder	May 26, 1981	Sliema	Marsaxlokk
Gareth Sciberras	Midfielder	March 29, 1983	Pietà	Marsaxlokk

[edit] Strikers

Name	Position	Date of Birth	Place of Birth	Club
Pete Speleoto	Striker	October 17, 1990	Valletta	Birkirkara
Gilbert Agius	Striker	February 21, 1974	Valletta	Valletta
Daniel Bogdanovic	Striker	March 26, 1980	Unknown	Marsaxlokk
Andrew Cohen	Striker	May 13, 1981	Paola	Hibernians
Michael Mifsud	Striker	April 17, 1981	Pietà	Coventry City
Terence Scerri	Striker	April 3, 1984	Paola	Hibernians
Andre Schembri	Striker	May 26, 1986	Pietà	Marsaxlokk
Ivan Woods	Striker	December 31, 1976	Valletta	Sliema Wanderers