Another European qualification campaign is over for Malta. For the 13th consecutive time, the Maltese placed bottom in their qualifying group. Should Malta had managed to maintain the 1-1 scoreline in their final game against Norway, they would have pipped the Faroe Islands by one point.

Yet, Malta came to rue the goal conceded against the Faroes in the much-celebrated 2-1 victory in the group opener as that allowed the Nordics to finish second bottom.

However, three points or four points, wooden spoon or not, these qualifiers have exposed Malta’s fragilities in a dramatic way particularly due to the fact that the number of exports – Maltese players plying their trade abroad – is down to just two, namely Luke Gambin, of Colchester United, and Zach Muscat who is on the books of Portuguese side Olhanense.

With 27 goals conceded in 10 games, Malta are the team which suffered the fifth most goals in these qualifiers.

Adding the 14 goals conceded in the Nations League, Malta have let in 41 goals in 16 games – it goes without saying that despite trying to be compact, defend deep and at times very flat, we still fail to deny our opponents from creating clear-cut chances. 

But it was another vulnerability that came into the fore during these preliminary games.

Heading into this campaign, coach Ray Farrugia had insisted about his team starting to be more attacking-minded rather than focusing only on defending.
This meant that the team had to start to try and impose their game with build-up play from the back, lateral incursions and combinations in the final third.

At times, this worked but only when skipper Michael Mifsud was on the field.
Despite his 38 years of age, he is still the best-skilled player in Farrugia’s side and the one who can spark Malta into life with his glimpses of quality… a case in point is the goal scored against Norway.

Otherwise, the Maltese failed to be dangerous when in possession with the exception of the Romania game in Petrolul when Jean Paul Farrugia even had a disallowed goal in stoppage time.

Other than that, most of the time this approach backfired with the Maltese collapsing in games against Sweden away (3-0), Romania home (4-0) and Sweden home (0-4).

The humiliating 7-0 defeat suffered to Spain in Cadiz was an awful chapter in these qualifiers.

But it would have been a little overshadowed should Malta returned from the Faroe Islands with the three points that would have meant a record-six point tally and placing second-from-bottom in the group.

The game played in Torshavn summed up the dire situation of the Maltese game. 

After a bright start to the game, the Maltese started to fade away with the Faroese players smart enough to exploit the flanks – one of Malta’s main weakness in these qualifiers and also under scrutiny against Norway. 

Once Malta went one goal down, the offensive reaction was poor with the only threat towards the Faroese goal coming from a long-range effort created by Kyrian Nwoko, one of the brightest notes in these Euro 2020 games. 

The national team lacked ideas, inspiration and creativity. But Maltese football lacks technical players who can be game changers, in particular against teams on more or less our level. 

Only eight goals were scored between Nations League and Euro 2020 qualifiers but we could not expect more from our offensive line which is formed by players who barely scored or even played with their own Premier League clubs so far this season. 

Mifsud has just one start to his name at Birkirkara and has yet to score a goal, Alfred Effiong has just one goal to his name at Balzan in ten matches while Nwoko managed just two goals in 366 minutes of play. 

Malta’s other forward Luke Gambin plies his trade in the English Football League with Colcester United but still seems to be out of favour in this national team. 

Although Gambin is at the back of two straight goals in the Carabao Cup and League Two, Farrugia still sees his playing time not enough to hand him a place in the national team.

“The Faroe Islands team that defeated us has 13 players playing abroad,” Farrugia said after the Norway game.

“On the other hand, we have only two players – Gambin who plays five minutes every game in England’s fourth-tier, and Zach Muscat, who plies his trade in Portugal’s third division.

“At this point, the introduction of the young ones is important to revive this national team.” 

Farrugia always emphasised about the importance of injecting young blood in the national team and he reiterated this stance after the Norway game once again.

“Our aim was to introduce as many young players as possible in what has been a very tough group and with 11 youths given the nod, I feel that the future will be a bit better,” the Malta coach said.

“In addition, we can’t forget the victory over the Faroe Islands - something that was never done before and that was important because every game is an experience for us.” 

Video: Jonathan Borg.

Future in ‘MFA hands’ 

Farrugia’s contract will be up in December and with the qualification campaign over, the Malta FA will be tasked in evaluating his rebuilding process at the helm of the national team.

Despite the uncertainty on his future, Farrugia remains calm as he insists that in life there are no miracles – it is all down to hard work.

“My contract will finish in December and the decision is down to the Malta Football Association,” he said.

“They must decide – from my end, together with my staff, we maintained our promises and tried to rejuvenate this national team. Other than that, miracles do not happen in life.”