National team's optimism crushed by Belarus

Malta 0
Belarus 4

For those expecting Malta to continue on the progress achieved after the 5-2 victory over Estonia, it was a sobering evening. The only confirmation they got at the final whistle was that the national team remains something of an enigma.

Fatigued, rather than buoyed by their demolition of Estonia, Malta were outfought by a young Belarus team who cantered home to a convincing victory. Along with Estonia, they finished top of the table with six points but Belarus were declared winners thanks to a better goal difference.

The emphatic manner with which Belarus broke Malta's feeble resistance showed that the high optimism gleaned from Monday's victory was misplaced. Horst Heese and Carmel Busuttil were given a stark reminder of the tactical, physical and psychological frailties which have dogged our team for years on end.

They tried their best to belittle the importance of the country's most established players by affording opportunities to the fringe candidates in these warm-ups.

There is nothing wrong in having a look at new players but if these matches are to serve their purpose as preparation for a very tough World Cup qualifying campaign, then our coaches would do better to heed the alarm signals emerging from yesterday's match.

I shudder to think how Malta will cope against the likes of Sweden, Bulgaria and Croatia if this performance is repeated regularly.

Malta simply had no answer to Belarus' tough, but fair, football, exposing the weaknesses of the home team's four-in-line defence.

In the opening stages, Mario Muscat, back in the line-up, dealt well with a couple of dangerous crosses by Belarus. At the other end, Dzmitry Likhtarovich's deflection on a Michael Mifsud pass, ballooned towards goal but Yury Zhaunou, under pressure from Brian Said, kept his balance to fist the ball away.

A defensive lapse after 11 minutes set the tone for the rest of the match.

A seemingly innocuous pass from Oleg Shkabara eluded Jeffrey Chetcuti, the ball landing in the path of Sergey Kornilenko who despatched a low shot past Muscat's dive.

Belarus's aggressive running gave them an edge in midfield early on as a spirited Malta tried to recover from the psychological setback of conceding an early goal.

Filling the boots of the half-fit Noel Turner, young Roderick Bajada knew he had to deliver a positive performance. Unfazed by the big responsibility weighing on his shoulders, he strove to make his presence felt on the left of midfield with his typical hard-working approach.

Malta were clearly having problems to cut the supply lines to Belarus's lanky forwards. Their troubles were further highlighted on 29 minutes when the eastern Europeans doubled their account.

Shkabara had all the time in the world to whip another cross from the right, Malta's flat-footed defence tried to apply the offside trap but Maskim Tsyhalka darted through to head the ball home from point blank.

The sizable crowd yesterday suggested that Malta's defeat of Estonia had helped to ignite some much-needed enthusiasm but the hesitant start by the Maltese undid the good work achieved earlier in the week.

Heese's response to the team's first-half sloppiness was to throw in the fray Turner and defender Ian Azzopardi for skipper David Carabott and Gareth Sciberras respectively.

It was easy to discern the reasons behind this move. For all the talk of experimentation, Heese now sought to revert to the same team that functioned so admirably against Estonia.

Azzopardi returned to his familiar left station while Wellman was repositioned at centre-half. Stefan Giglio assumed Sciberras's anchoring role in the middle with Turner taking Carabott's place on the right.

Not so long ago, Carabott was considered an automatic choice for the national team but his substitution only 45 minutes into his first outing in this tournament, suggests that his standing in the squad is on the wane.

Carabott, 35, yesterday increased his record of international appearances to 121.

A series of corners by Malta failed to put the Belarus defence under pressure. Bajada was sent clear by an Ivan Woods pass on the hour mark but shot badly when he had time and space to advance.

Malta's hopes all but vanished when Belarus made it 3-0. Pavel Biahanski, a second-half substitute, punished the hesitation in our backline by driving a tame shot into the corner of net after receiving from substitute Ihar Razhkou.

Their hopes of a salvaging act shattered Malta still tried to make a fight out of it. An angled Barbara drive was smothered away by Zhaunou who was also quick to regain his composure when blocking Mifsud's follow-up.

Ten minutes from time, Giglio was on the end of a fine cross from the right but his header was saved by the well-placed Belarus keeper.

But Malta's misery was then compounded with a fourth goal by Belarus. Yauheni Lashankou made the most of the unplugged spaces in the Malta defence to run unimpeded towards goal, jinking past Muscat before depositing the ball inside an unguarded net.

Positive factors emerge from tournament - Heese

In his aftermatch comments, Horst Heese said he still saw a lot of positive factors emerging from the International Tournament despite yesterday's upset.

"I guess, there were more positives in our three games than we would have thought before the tournament got underway," he said.

"The most negative aspect of the whole competition was the 4-0 defeat to Belarus. But don't put the blame on the players for this. It was us, the coaches, who decided to field different formations and adopt new tactics for the three matches played.

"Today's result was harsh on us though. There was no other way for my players but to go flat out on attack after conceding that early soft goal to Belarus."

Malta: M. Muscat, S. Wellman (A. Zahra 67), J. Chetcuti, D. Carabott (N. Turner 45), B. Said, S. Giglio (I. Azzopardi 45), R. Bajada, G. Sciberras, M. Mifsud, E. Barbara, I. Woods.

Belarus: Y. Zhaunou, V. Tarasenka, D. Molash, O. Popel, D. Likhtarovich, M. Tsyhalka (I. Razhkou 32), O. Shkabara, S. Kornilenko (P. Biahanski 45), A. Stahanovich, A. Kontsevoy (P. Shmihera 64), Y. Lashankou.

Referee: Sten Kaldma (Estonia).

Scorers: Kornilenko 11; Tsyhalka 29; Biahanski 70; Lashankou 85.

The other match

Estonia 1
Moldova 0

Joel Lindpere kept Estonia's chances of landing the International Tournament honours alive when scoring the winner in a 1-0 defeat of Moldova in yesterday's first match at the National Stadium.

Estonia's victory had moved them temporarily top of the four-team table with six points. In the end, however, it was Belarus who won the honours after having the better of Malta in the second match.

Genuine goalscoring opportunities were at a premium in a dull first half. The only chance worthy of a mention came Moldova's way when a close-range headed attempt by Victor Golovatenco skimmed the far post after an accurate cross from Serghei Covalcius.

The inertia encountered in the first half was lifted by an excellent move which led to Estonia's goal 13 minutes into the second half. After exchanging passes with Kristen Vikkmae, Lindpere sped into the box and fired a low shot past Moldova goalkeeper Evgheni Martiughin.

Moldova should have been level 15 minutes from time but for the crossbar which denied Boris Cebotari.

Estonia: M. Kaalma, T. Allas, M. Lemsalu, R. Piiroja, R. Klavan, A. Dmiitrijev (M. Reim 74), M. Smirnov (K. Haavistu 81), M. Kristal, K. Viikmae, J. Lindpere, A. Saharov (V. Zahovaiko 71).

Moldova: E. Martiughin, E. Valuta, C. Popov, V. Golovatenco, V. Catinsus, A. Savinov (I. Testemitanu 67), S. Covalcius, A. Corneencov (N. Josan 78), A. Cucovei (S. Japalau 60), B. Cebotari, D. Calincov.

Referee: Lorry Sammut (Malta). SCORER: Lindpere 58.