Henry Brincat

Birkirkara are the talk of the town at present after their prestigious result and magnificent performance against West Ham United of England on Thursday night.

On that memorable night, the team from tiny Malta managed to beat the Premier League side on merit to force extra time and then be unfortunately eliminated in a penalty shootout. That was certainly one of my most glorious moments in Maltese football since I started my career in sports journalism way back in 1966, that is, 49 years ago.

Despite the elimination, the victory over the 90 minutes and extra time provided huge satisfaction for the thousands of Birkirkara fans at the National Stadium and other thousands watching on television (thanks to TVM).

This was not just a victory for Birkirkara. It was a victory which brought pride to all Maltese, especially the football enthusiasts. Yes, The Stripes have made themselves and Malta proud. And they have given Maltese football a big, precious and hopefully long-lasting boost.

Unfortunately, it was a case of being so near and yet so far at the end. So close because they would have qualified (probably) had they not lost the first leg through that Tomkins late goal in added injury time. And so far, because that penalty miss by Vukanac sent them bowing out in the penalty shootout.

Let me make it clear. I am not putting any blame on the central defender for missing that penalty. Before Thursday I have seen many great players with much more experience missing penalties. Let us not forget that it was an unusual moment for any of those Birkirkara penalty takers to have reached that moment. They were all inexperienced for not even Fabrizio Miccoli (perhaps the only one with the needed experience) was available as he had been substituted midway through the second half of the match.

But it was a massive result for Birkirkara and Maltese football. Whoever believed that this could have ever happened? Who would have thought that a Maltese side from a town of not more than 30,000 inhabitants would humiliate a team from London and playing in the Premier League, one of the best leagues not only in Europe, but also in the whole world?

Let us all give credit to this Birkirkara side. And not only for this result. Because in the euphoria, we must have all forgotten that Birkirkara eliminated FC Ulisses of Armenia 3-1 on aggregate in an earlier round. That was another prestigious result and performance which enabled the team to get to this stage where they faced the Hammers.

The first mention must be made of the administration of this club, now under the presidency of Dr Adrian Delia, which started working hard to try and strengthen the team. They brought over a new coach as former Floriana mentor Giovanni Tedesco took the place of the beloved Paul Zammit as the latter and the club agreed to terminate the contract.

The administration brought over Fabrizio Miccoli (thanks to a sponsor). Many expressed their doubts over his presence here because he is now in the veteran category. Yet, he scored the goal which paved the way for the 3-1 victory in Armenia against Ulisses and has now scored the only goal in the 1-0 win over West Ham. No doubt, he has already proved his worth.

The fact that the club managed to keep last season’s solid base with Haber, Vukanac, Fenech, Rowen Muscat and others being given new deals, and with the new arrivals – Plut and Marcelina from Floriana – the team has grown from strength to strength. I am sure Tedesco will certainly have a bigger selection headache when unavailable players at present (due to injury) including Gareth Sciberras, Rafael Ledesma and Shola Shodiya are once again at his disposal.

And last Thursday will remain marked as one of the most memorable days in the history of Maltese football. On that night, Birkirkara FC showed everyone what the way forward should be. After so many years of being on the negative side, we have seen something very positive and we all have to work hard to keep that trend.

For it was not only Birkirkara who brought pride and prestige back to our football. In fact, I cannot forget the 2-1 win obtained by Hibernians after another classy performance by the Paolites at their stadium in Corradino.

It is true they went on to lose the second leg 5-1 in Tel Aviv. Actually, they were just 33 minutes away from qualifying before collapsing and suffering four goals till the end of the game. But beating the much more experienced Israeli side was another big feat for a Maltese side.

Balzan were complete newcomers to the European scene. In fact, it was their baptism of fire in the Europa League and it is already satisfying to say that they were not humiliated by more experienced opponents, Zeljeznicar from Bosnia Herzegovina.

Valletta disappointed their numerous fans. Newtown AFC of Wales never appeared to be unbeatable opponents, but the way things happened before the match with visa problems for some of their foreign players (although that problem was solved in time for their participation in the Wales match) did not help their cause. Moreover, the citizens were found wanting when it came to the second leg in Malta. They needed just a one-goal win to make to the second round, but failed miserably, losing also their home match.

The Malta Football Association must also be very proud of these results. All in all, we can say that we have had the best results in European football for quite a long time.

Now let us hope this was just the start of a positive new era for Maltese football.