Brave Malta in narrow 1-0 defeat against Italian giants

Report by Cristian Muscat

Malta’s national team played a relatively good match but ended up losing 1-0 against the formidable Italian national team.

Following Malta’s match against Norway, national coach Pietro Ghedin opted to make only one change, replacing Ryan Fenech with John Mintoff.

As expected, the Italians came out on the attack and, just one mintue into the game, a shot by Ciro Immobile – who plays with Germany’s Borussia Dortmund – went wide. Malta replied well with a shot from Clayton Failla from the edge of the box which was deflected into a corner by an Italian defender.

The Italians could have found the net but were unlucky when Graziano Pelle and Marco Verratti hit two consecutive posts.

On the 23rd minute, Graziano Pelle scored Italy’s only goal.

Four minutes later, captain Michael Mifsud was expelled leaving Malta playing with 10. Mifsud faced a red card for a direct foul on Roma’s Florenzi.

Malta attempted to draw a score on the 32nd minute, with a freekick by specialist Clayton Failla which however ended wide.

Italy returned on the attack during the second half, missing two goals in the 46th minute when Candreva hit the post and shortly later a header by Immobile was easily parried by Malta goalkeeper Andrew Hogg.

The expulsion of Leonardo Bonucci on the 73rd minute brought a level playing field between the two teams.  Bonucci was expelled after a professional foul on striker Andrè Schembri who plays with FSV Frankfurt in Germany.

Italy could have doubled the score at the 90th minute, but a low shot by Juventus player Sebastian Giovinco hit the post.