Malta's decline sparks Polish rout on Heese's return

Malta 0
Poland 4

A disjointed display from a reshaped Malta team heralded the start of Horst Heese's second spell as national coach.

Heese and Carmel Busuttil, his right-hand man, will not have been too impressed by the team's notable capitulation in the second half which saw a young and untried Polish team notching four goals without reply to condemn Malta to an embarrassing defeat.

In keeping with his promise of giving the members of Malta's new brigade a chance to justify their place in the squad while gaining some much-needed international experience, Heese had Birkirkara's Roderick Briffa and Pietà Hotspurs duo Gareth Sciberras and Ivan Woods earning their first international cap alongside their tried-and-trusted colleagues.

Other new names like Claude Mattocks, Antoine Zahra and Ian Azzopardi also got their first taste of competitive action in the second half but key Malta players like Michael Mifsud (omitted), Chucks Nwoko, Luke Dimech and Stefan Giglio did not take part in yesterday's friendly at a windswept National Stadium.

Clear indications on the potential of his squad is what Heese was hoping to derive from yesterday's first 'test' match for Malta.

While the new players performed adequately - an opinion shared by Busuttil - Malta's overall performance left much to be desired as the team looked devoid of inspiration and lost its tactical shape in the second half, never mind the perennial physical and psychological weaknesses.

The nosedive in Malta's performance will also have reminded Heese that his team would need plenty of time to adjust to his new tactical innovations and for his new players to get used to the arduous demands of international football.

"We introduced some new blood in the team as our aim was to give new players a chance to show what they can do in international games," Heese said in the post-match news conference.

"In the first half, we were happy with the result but not with the performance. After the break, the team lost its tactical discipline and conceded two goals which shattered the morale.

"I don't think we deserved to lose 4-0 and in that respect, the result was catastrophic for us."

Birkirkara's Briffa was assigned a central role in defence alongside Jeffrey Chetcuti and Daniel Theuma. Woods was instructed to share the team's attacking duties with Daniel Bogdanovic while Sciberras was handed a familiar midfield role.

The opening stages were disappointingly short on goalmouth chances but in their first telling inroad into the Maltese half, Poland nearly took the lead after 19 minutes.

Galloping onto a through-pass from the middle, Grezegorl Raziak nipped in from the blind side and chipped the ball over the advancing Mario Muscat. Much to Malta's relief, Chetcuti had recouped ground to clear the ball away in extremis.

Muscat then saved a header from Marcin Adamski as the Poles, yesterday playing without their big-name players, began to assert their superiority.

Gilbert Agius set up Malta's first chance after 20 minutes. Evading the approaches of Jaroslaw Bieniuk on the right, Agius squared the ball towards Noel Turner whose drive from the edge of the area was saved by the Polish goalkeeper.

A combination of good goalkeeping and luck helped Malta avoid falling a goal behind after 32 minutes. Andrzey Niedzielan rose inside the penalty area to meet a cross from the right by Piotv Picchniak only to be denied by Muscat and the post.

At his presentation as the 'new' Malta coach in October, Heese had pledged to eradicate the use of the old-fashioned libero from Malta's stagnated tactics.

His reshaped defence yesterday can best be described as a cross between the old five-man rearguard and the more modern flat-back four.

David Carabott, the Malta skipper, was deployed wide on the right but he spent most of the first half lurking near Malta's midfielders whereas the other four defenders strictly stuck with their shielding duties.

Poland, who might have taken the lead before half-time had Sebastin Mila not failed to connect with a pass from Rasiak, enjoyed territorial supremacy but Malta generally coped well without threatening their opponents.

A low cross by Picchniak early in the second half had Theuma deflecting the ball towards Muscat's goal in an attempt to clear but the Malta goalkeeper was well placed to save.

The stalemate was broken nine minutes into the second half when Bieniuk used his height to power above the Maltese defenders and head Mila's corner home.

Carabott tried to raise Maltese spirits with a powerful shot that was parried by Poland goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszezak, who had just replaced Szamotulski at half-time.

Local hopes of a comeback receded when Poland doubled their score, Mila hammering a powerful shot past Muscat after Niedzielan's run and cross unhinged the Maltese defence.

Bogdanovic could have reignited Malta's hopes when he was freed by Turner but his hastened shot finished high. Turner and, a few minutes later, Bogdanovic were withdrawn by Heese who introduced Floriana's Mattocks and Zahra of Hibernians.

It was then George Mallia's turn to enter the fray instead of Sciberras.

Mattocks' arrival helped Malta show a semblance of creative play in midfield, a fact acknowledged by Heese who was delighted by the Floriana skipper's performance.

Amidst a sequence of substitutions, Poland's earlier momentum abated but Malta failed to capitalise. Briffa came closest to reducing the leeway when Mattocks' pass found him unmarked inside the box but his low drive was blocked by the opposing goalkeeper.

Adrian Sikor had only been on the pitch for burly one minute when he increased his side's lead, sliding the ball low past Muscat after Marcin Radzewicz, another substitute, had carved the Maltese defence wide open with a run inside the left channel.

Malta's inert performance was exacerbated by a stupid, soft goal two minutes from the end of normal time as Burkhardt intercepted a poor clearance by Muscat and his low strike from the distance rolled agonisingly past the Malta goalkeeper.

Malta: M. Muscat, D. Theuma (I. Azzopardi), J. Chetcuti, D. Carabott, C. Mamo, R. Briffa, G. Agius, G. Sciberras (G. Mallia), I. Woods, D. Bogdanovic (A. Zahra), N. Turner (C. Mattocks).

Poland: G. Szamotulski (T. Kuszezak), M. Adamski, J. Bieniuk, M. Baszezynski (M. Wasilewski), A. Glowacki, P. Rachwal (M. Radzewicz), P. Picchniak (L. Madej), T. Surma, G. Rasiak (I. Jelen), S. Mila (M. Burkhardt), A. Niedzielan (A. Sikor).

Referee: G. Kasnaferis (Greece).

Scorers: Bieniuk 54; Mila 56; Sikor 83; Burkhardt 88