Stuck... Why team Malta still struggles to raise its game

With a single victory and only 15 goals to its name, Malta languishes behind minnows like Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and the Faroe Islands in its footballing prowess.

An analysis of the last four qualifying tournaments for the World Cup (2018 and 2014) and the European Championship (2016 and 2012) puts Malta at par with Andorra, San Marino and Gibraltar. The national team lost 35 of the 40 games played over the past seven years in the qualifying tournaments but what is worrying is the apparent lack of progress over the period.

It is clear that the national team is stuck in a rut, unable to make the breakthrough other small European countries have. Leaving aside Iceland – a country with a population less than Malta’s that qualified for the Euros three years ago and which booked a place in the 2018 World Cup – even the Faroe Islands have done better.

With a population the size of two electoral districts in Malta, the Faroe Islands racked up 20 points during the same period, winning five games and scoring 20 goals. The numbers are bound to dismay any football fan but for Birkirkara FC coach Paul Zammit they do not come as a surprise.

He says there has been little progress at national team level when compared to countries that are only slightly bigger than Malta. But he believes it is a mistake to focus on the national team. “This has been the story of always but by focussing only on the national team we are missing the bigger picture because the countries that have made much bigger strides have adopted long term plans to improve football in general,” Zammit says.

These countries, he notes, have invested in improving youth football and supporting youngsters to play in foreign leagues. It is these factors that help foster good players who then perform well at national team level, he adds.

Zammit believes the improvement has to happen at club level by ensuring teams have strong structures.

“Youth leagues have to improve and young players encouraged to play abroad and the improvement in national team performance will just be the cherry on the cake,” he says.

Former international player Carlo Mamo, secretary general of the Malta Football Players Association, shares his sentiment. He says the main problem is the level of football in the domestic league. Mamo says the slow pace of the domestic game allows players enough time to think with the ball, a luxury that does not exist in the faster paced international scene.

“I know this also from experience. International football is a different ball game altogether and that is where we suffer,” he says.

Mamo says part of the solution is to have more Maltese players playing abroad in leagues with a faster tempo. But he believes more has to be done to improve the league level in Malta.

“The national team has stagnated and there appears to be little will to improve the domestic league from where players are drawn,” Mamo says.

While domestic clubs have upped their level, it evidently has not been enough to reflect progress at national team level. And with smaller countries leapfrogging Malta the road looks steeper than it ever was

Sainfeit has coached international teams including Trinidad and Tobago, Togo and Nigeria during his career

Journeyman Belgian tasked with Malta job is cautious about ‘Icelandic’ ambitions

Little-known Tom Saintfiet has seen his fair share of footballing projects. Only last December, the Belgian was tasked with the reins of Trinidad and Tobago, but that stint lasted little more than six months.

He held other short stints with the world’s sporting invalids… Bangladesh and Togo national teams earlier in 2016, Malawi in 2013, surprisingly Nigeria in 2012; Ethiopia in 2011; Zimbabwe and even Namibia in 2008-2010 and the Qatar U-17s.

Saintfiet is not as pricey as others and his control of the English-language makes him internationally mobile. On Friday, he told Cristian Muscat of Illum that he has had a long-term ambition to work in Malta.

“I think Malta fits my idea about football and I think we can grow a lot,” Saintfiet said. “My work here is not only to focus on the senior national team but also on the coaches, youths, scouting and the football school. I will be working on the development of football here but I hope for long-term results for the national team.”

Saintfiet is aware of the limitations of the underperforming national team he is taking over.

“We’d like to win games… but that won’t happen in the short-term. There will have to be changes. But the ambition must be to get good results against similar nations like us and decent results with bigger nations.”

He knows that Iceland’s success story was built in the development of its youths and their export to European leagues.

“Iceland had a lot of professional players abroad and the whole national team plays in the European leagues. It’s a long-term project. Iceland developed its youth team. In the 80s and 90s Malta won against them, but since then the team has changed.”

And yet, Saintfiet points to a cultural chasm separating the two teams.

“It’s not something we can just copy. It’s also cultural, the difference between the Nordic mentality and the southern mentality. We have to use our qualities, our plus points, but also recognise our minus points, and develop those to become competitive. Other small countries who have become competitive must be our example.”