The Maltese national team failed to make the qualifying round of the 2019 Women’s World Cup last week after finishing third in Group 2 of the preliminary phase behind Albania and Greece and ahead of newcomers Kosovo.

Drawn in the same group as the 71st ranked Greece and Albania, who were hosting the mini-tournament, Malta’s task to make inroads in the competition was not easy even though coach Mark Gatt and Pierre Brincat, the Director of Women’s Football at the Malta FA, were banking on their players to sustain the level of progress registered these past few years.

The side started with a 1-0 upset to Greece before a goalless draw against Albania where captain Dorianne Theuma was unlucky not to find a breakthrough when her second-half effort at goal came off the goal-frame.

Theuma went on to list her name on the scoresheet against Kosovo in a group dead rubber following a comfortable 3-1 win, showing Gatt’s girls were committed to the team and each other.

Midfielder Theuma, who plays her league football for Hibernians, praised her team’s displays and confidence shown, portraying it as a fundamental learning curve for the entire squad.

“Although we were drawn in a tough group, we put up three positive performances against more experienced sides at this level of competition. We did very well and failure to reach the next round did not dampen our confidence,” Theuma told the Times of Malta.

“Against Greece and Albania we never lost our tactical shape, particularly at the back. The draw against Albania was a very good result for the national team and victory over Kosovo was deserved as we adopted our gameplan to perfection which made things easier for us on the day.”

The experience derived from the tournament in Albania will come in good stead for most of the players in the squad, particularly the ones coming up.

“We might have not qualified to the next stage but our hard work and training came to the fore during the tournament in Albania and now we’re all eager to make more improvement and get better results for the country,” Theuma said.

The four group winners from the qualifying phase of the 2019 Women’s World Cup – Kazakhstan, Albania, Israel and the Faroe Islands – were joined by Moldova the runners-up with the best record in all four mini-tournaments.

The qualifying group stage draw will be made on April 25.