MALTA 1
M. Farrugia 37
ISRAEL 1
S. Beck 64
The Malta women’s national team chalked up their first point in the Women’s Euro 2021 qualifying stage after holding Israel to a 1-1 draw at the Centenary Stadium.
It was a fine performance from the hard-working Maltese girls as they put the 63rd-ranked nation in trouble several times during the game.
Heading into the game, coach Mark Gatt was upbeat on his team’s chances of opening their scoring account and Maria Farrugia heeded her mentor’s call when netting the team’s first goal in the qualifying campaign.
The Sunderland player was one of the standout performance in Gatt’s clan. But more remarkably was the collective effort that the Maltese players showed yesterday against a team who had offered a stern challenge to Italy and Denmark in their opening qualifiers.
Gatt kept faith with the same players that gave Italy a hard time last time out with Emma Lipman at the heart of the defence on her second cap while Dorianne Theuma was skippering the team on her 95th appearance.
Italy-based Shona Zammit and Nicole Sciberras formed part of the midfield whereas Rachel Cuschieri, Maria Farrugia and Brenda formed the offensive line.
Israel, on their part, shaped their team in an offensive 4-3-3 system with star player Sharon Beck, of Freiburg, upfront.
It was Malta who had the first chance of the game when Brenda Borg met a Dorianne Theuma free-kick but headed wide.
Israel responded on 12 minutes through Eden Avital but Janice Xuereb was alert to avert the danger.
Four minutes later, Theuma almost capitalised on an excellent distribution by Cuschieri only to see the ball finish inches wide.
On the half-hour mark, Malta surived a scare when Israel went on a quick raid but Beck was denied by Xuereb.
Five minutes after, Malta were awarded a free-kick from the edge of the area from which Cuschieri saw her effort sail over.
Nonetheless, Malta were not to be denied on the 37th minute when Cuschieri advanced with the ball before switching play to Borg. The latter slotted a clever through ball in the passing channel towards Farrugia who fired home with a low shot.
On the restart, Maltese squandered a glorious chance to double the score when Borg missed the target from close-range.
The Maltese team continued to dominate proceedings and in the 49th minute, Farrugia came close to score a wonder goal when she dribbled past three opponents but her shot was blocked by the Israel backline.
With Israel struggling to get out of their backline, Malta continued to press for a second with Cuschieri denied by the Israel goalkeeper
Malta were made to pay for this missed chances as on 67 minuets Israel drew level when Beck hit a first-time drive that flew into the net.
Eleven minutes from time, Jade Flask came to Malta’s rescue when she cleard away Keren Goor’s effort.
In the closing stages, Israel inched their way up on the field in search of a winner but the Maltese girls remained solid and were rewarded with their first point of the campaign.