Ray Farrugia urged his players to shore up their defence as the national team finalised their preparations ahead of tonight’s UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying campaign at the Ilie Oana Stadium in Ploesti this evening (kick-off: 6pm).
The match promises to be another stern test for the Maltese players against a Romanian side who are desperate for the three points to revive their chances of at least finishing second in the group and book their place in next year’s European Championship finals.
Both teams head into the match on a disappointing note as while the Maltese national team fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Norway in Oslo, the Romanians suffered a damaging 2-1 home loss to group leaders Spain in Bucharest that severely hampered their hopes of a top two finish in Group F.
Malta coach Ray Farrugia is under no illusion of the difficult task awaiting his players in Ploiesti this evening and is hopeful they can put on a much-improved performance against the Romanians.
“We just came from a very difficult match against Norway and Romania will be another very stern test,” the Malta coach said. “It’s important that we improve from our showing against Norway if we hope to take something from the match.
“I expect Romania to go out for the win. They are coming from a tough defeat against Spain who managed 78 per cent of possession, exactly the same they had against us last March.
“But tomorrow’s match will be a completely different game and I’m sure that Romania will come out very aggressive and we need to be ready for that. What I can promise is that we will try our outmost to get a positive result.”
Against Norway in midweek, one clear frailty of the Maltese team was their failure to make good use of the ball. In fact, each time, the team tried to come out with the ball they were guilty of losing possession cheaply, thus leaving our defence under continuous pressure.
It was no surprise that Farrugia highlighted the need for his team to try and make better use of the ball against the Romanians today.
“It will be very important that have a good percentage rate of possession against Romania,” the Malta coach said.
“I wish we can keep the ball more so we are not constantly under pressure. This is something that we are working on with the young players coming into the team.
“Hopefully, by time we will get better and once we achieve that we will be come a better team, I have no doubt about that. But we need to be patient with our young players.”
The Malta coaches hinted that he could make a couple of changes from the team that lost to Norway in midweek.
“When we have two matches played in between a short spell of time we are always forced to make some changes as there are some players who struggle to play back-to-back games,” the Malta coach said.
Defender Zach Muscat, who suffered a dead leg in Oslo, is continuing to receive treatment and faces a race against time to be fit for today’s match. If he fails to recover, his place is expected to taken by Ferdinando Apap, who replaced him in Norway.
Paul Fenech is also not in the best physical condition, Farrugia said, and is being assessed. The indications are that he is likely to be replaced in his role by Rowen Muscat with Alfred Effiong expected to come into the attack in support of either Kyrian Nwoko or Jean Paul Farrugia.
The Malta national team do not have good memories from their first ever competitive meeting with Romania last June as the Eastern Europeans put on a vibrant attacking display to crush Malta 4-0 at the National Stadium.
Farrugia said that looking back to that match, Malta must not repeat the same defensive errors and make sure they take the chances that come their way.
“Our final result against Romania in June didn’t reflect exactly how the game went,” the Malta coach said.
“In that match our national team managed to create the highest number of scoring opportunities in an international match for several years but unfortunately we failed to take them. Added to that we committed many defensive mistakes and we were punished by the Romanian forwards.
“I hope that we learnt from that match and if we are more disciplined in defence and manage to take the chances that we create, then I’m sure that we can give Romania a good run for their money.”
On his part, defender Steve Borg said that Malta were unlucky to lose 4-0 against Romania in June as he felt that the match could have turned out differently if Malta had taken their opportunities.
“Luck didn’t smile at us against Romania last June,” the Valletta defender said.
“I remember that before Romania scored their first goal we had a big scoring opportunity that we failed to take. During that match we pushed a lot forward but we missed a lot of chances.
“In the second half we played much better but we committed too many mistakes at the back.
“This time we have an opportunity to make up for that defeat and show that we are far better team than the one that face Romania in June.”
Runners-up battle
Romania are currently engaged in a three-way battle for second place with Sweden and Norway.
Asked by the Romanian media present who he thinks are the favourites, Farrugia said: “It’s very difficult to say given how close all teams are at the moment.
“At the moment Sweden are the favourites but personally I think that Romania and also Norway have a chance. There are only five matches to go and there is still a long way to go so anything can happen.”
PROBABLE LINE-UP
Malta: H. Bonello, A. Agius, S. Borg, Z. Muscat/F. Apap, R. Muscat, D. Vella, J. Corbalan, L. Gambin/J. Grech, J. Mbong, A. Effiong, K. Nwoko.
Referee: Duje Strukan (Croatia FA).