Maltese pay dearly for lapses of concentration

Malta 0
Israel 2

Hopes of a good result for Malta in yesterday's EURO 2004 home qualifier against Israel rose at half-time with the score still locked at 0-0.

Malta had repelled everything that Israel could throw at them in the first half, thanks mainly to a series of fine saves from Mario Muscat.

Two inviting chances for the home side in the initial stages of the second half served to further lift the optimism but amid this renewed confidence, fears that our players' lack of ruthlessness in front of goal and their inclination to drop guard in crucial moments of the game, persevered.

Much to local frustration, such fears materialised as Malta's tendency to give away soft goals again undid their bold resistance. This time Israel profited from two moments of distraction to hit two goals that proved enough to give them a winning start in Group One.

Indeed, those who follow the fortunes of the national team, including yours truly, will have been gripped by a 'back to square one' feeling as for the umpteenth time the team paid a dear price for its failure to eliminate those old, familiar failings which have hindered the side for decades.

It happened against Slovenia last month when Malta lost 3-0 and happened again yesterday.

Optimists would point to another committed performance by our team, who did try to answer Held's call to be more creative when going forward, but the side again displayed a lack of fluidity in its attacking movement.

The players betrayed signs of confusion whenever they had the opportunity to push forward. Perhaps the time is ripe to bring in some new faces to pep up the forward potential as the likes of Chucks Nwoko and Michael Mifsud yesterday looked short on sharpness. The omens are not very bright ahead of Wednesday's clash with France.

Prior to kick-off, Joe Mifsud, the Malta FA president, presented a donation by UEFA to the managing director of Special Olympics Europe/ Euroasia Football, who chose Malta as the venue for their annual conference.

Joe Brincat then received a mem-ento from Dr Mifsud on the occasion of his 100th appearance for Malta.

The game was barely one minute old when Gilbert Agius fashioned a shot that bounced wide of the near post. Keeping faith with a 5-3-2 cum 3-5-2 formation, Held elected to thrust into the fray Noel Turner as a replacement for the suspended Stefan Giglio. Brincat received Held's nod ahead of George Mallia.

Israel coach Avraham Grant opted for a 3-4-1-2 module that saw Man. City's Eyal Berkovic granted the freedom to roam behind the two strikers, Ham Revivo and Pini Balali.

In the 17th minute, Balali had three good chances to break the stalemate. After his piledriver crashed against the bar, he headed weakly from a Berkovic cross and then saw his angled shot blocked by Muscat.

A promising chance beckoned for Malta when Brincat released the speedy Mifsud on the left but Nwoko lost his balance when he tried to connect with his striking partner's cross. This came after 23 minutes and seconds later Malta again threatened to punish Israel's uneasy defending when an Agius miscued attempt fell into the path of Mifsud, who fired high from a good position.

Israel enjoyed the better of the early exchanges but Malta provoked sporadic panic in their opponents whenever they counter-attacked.

On one occasion, Agius made headway through the middle as Israel were caught wrong-footed but his throughpass for Mifsud was fractionally long.

At the other end, Muscat frustrated Israel with a great save from a Berkovic header.

A slick interchange between Agius, Nwoko and Mifsud carved an opening for the Valletta skipper, who stumbled on the slippery turf, allowing Badeer to close the angle.

Muscat again distinguished himself with another fine save from a Revivo shot on the turn before the Malta defence punted the ball away to safety as the hosts maintained composure, despite the Israeli ascendancy who were often found wanting in terms of ideas and passing in the final third of the pitch.

That failing could have been rectified just 23 seconds into the second half when a perfectly-weighted Turner cross found Mifsud in an inviting position but the nippy striker's control was poor and a golden chance went abegging. Minutes later a Nwoko scorcher ended high.

In Israel's first flowing move of the second half, Idan Tal got on the end of a Zano pass but his grounder went just wide. Despite his constant mobility, Berkovic had been well contained by our defence but when he rode a tackle and had the space to advance through the middle after 56 minutes, danger loomed for Malta.

Much to Malta's disappointment, Berkovic's clever pass towards Revivo eluded the red-shirted defenders and the Fenerbache striker squared towards Balali who deposited the ball into the net.

Six minutes later, Berkovic, his penchant for drifting from one side to the other now terrorising the Maltese defence, surged past Dimech before teeing up Badir whose first-time shot was repelled by Muscat.

Israel's breakthrough called for a change by Held, who introduced Daniel Bogdanovic for Nwoko. The solid Dimech spared Said's blushes when dispossessing the goalbound Revivo after the Sliema defender had given away possession.

Held signalled his intent to boost Malta's attacking forays when bringing on Hibs striker Adrian Mifsud for Brincat, whose exit was greeted by an applause by the appreciative crowd.

However, any hopes Malta had of snatching an equaliser vanished when Benayoun profited from some lax defending to dart into the box before releasing Revivo, who rifled home.

Malta tried to rally, despite the adversity of the situation and Agius could have rekindled local hopes had his well-taken free-kick not been beaten away by Dudu Aquate.

George Mallia, a late substitute for Agius, shot wide of the far post two minutes from time as Malta shaded the final stages. Just before the final whistle, Israel substitute Avy Nimny was released by Revivo but blasted high.

Malta: M. Muscat, B. Said, J. Chetcuti, D. Carabott, D. Debono, L. Dimech, G. Agius (G. Mallia 84th), N. Turner, M. Mifsud, J. Brincat (A. Mifsud 76th), C. Nwoko (D. Bogdanovic 64th).

Israel: D. Aquate, A. Zano, V. Badeer, A. Banado, A. Domb, A. Keisi, T. Banin, H. Revivo, P. Balali (Y. Benayoun 71st), E. Berkovic (A. Nimny 89th), I. Tal (I. Antebi 82nd).

Referee: Sergey Shebek (Ukraine).

Scorers: Balali 56th, Revivo 78th.

Yellow Cards: Brincat, Carabott; Antebi.MALTA

Coaches' comments

Sigfried Held was a disappointed man after the match, even though he still reserved a few words of praise for his players' performance during the opening half.

"In the first half we did not play that bad... the players tried really hard, but we still have to improve our passing game," Held said. "We had a couple of chances to score as well but, again, we failed to put them in the net. We can never expect to finish with a good result if we miss such chances.

"Israel have some skilful individual players and once they were in front it was difficult for us to save the match."

Israeli coach Avraham Grant sported a big smile after the match.

"This result was the ideal start we were looking for," he said. "We knew beforehand that it was difficult here against Malta. They are an organised side and blocked most of our moves. However, Balali's goal opened the way for us. This was a useful win for Israel."