Sweden 4

Malta 0



Malta suffered yet another defeat in a World Cup qualifying match in Group 1 yesterday when they were soundly beaten by superior Sweden by four goals to nil in Gothenburg.

The Maltese again failed to make the best of a couple of early chances that came their way, when Sweden were still unsettled, and then showed lack of concentration in defence when Sweden vindicated their physical superiority and aerial threat after the restart and scored three times within six fatal minutes before the hour to revive their qualification hopes.

Coach Dusan Fitzel made some changes in Malta’s starting line-up as Andrew Hogg played in goal, Luke Dimech and Jonathan Caruana as centre backs and Andre Agius and Shaun Bajada as full backs.

John Hutschinson and Jamie Pace played in front of the defence with Alex Muscat, Andre Schembri and Roderick Briffa providing cover and support in midfield for the advanced Daniel Bogdanovic in attack, in the absence of the suspended Michael Mifsud.

Malta failed to capitalise on a cagey and edgey start by the Swedes, feeling the pressure from their fans after an unimpressive World Cup qualifying campaign so far.

With hardly 12 minutes on the clock, a Muscat drilling shot was held out by keeper Isaksson, Bogdanovic ran in for the loose ball but shot straight on the grounded keeper who blocked his goalbound effort.

Having survived that early scare, Sweden started to find their pace. Ibrahimovic’s beat Hogg’s sorties but his header was cleared off the line by Dimech.

Sweden forged ahead after 22 minutes. Rasmussen shot on Safari’s cross from the byeline on the left, hit the underside of the bar and fell to Kim Kallstrom to head in from close range.

Fears that Malta would buckle under pressure were averted as Sweden struggled for long spells in the first half and could not capitalize on other chances. Many of the 25,271 fans at Ullevi Stadium booed when the players left the pitch for halftime.

But the second half belonged to Sweden. Forcing some sustained pressure, they looked menacing with an Ibrahimovic grounder, turned into a corner by the outstretched Hogg and a Kallstrom shot blocked on the line by Dimech.

Sweden forced a series of corners in succession. From one, on 52 minutes, Daniel Majstorovic headed in their second goal.

Four minutes later Zlatan Ibrahimovic himself capitalised on Malta’s mental collapse as he latched on Elm’s low pass and chipped the ball over the onrushing Hogg.

Before the game was an hour old, Ibrahimovic turned provider with a low cross for Marcus Berg to tap in from close range.

Malta ran the risk of a goal deluge as Sweden looked dominant. Luckily, that did not materialise courtesy of some slice of good luck and some plucky goalkeeping from Hogg.

The Malta keeper turned out Elm’s shot into a corner and a Mellberg effort hit the innerside of the post before substitute Hysen’s effort was headed away into a corner by Dimech with a piece of superlative defence.

On 74 minutes Alex Muscat’s long range effort tested the Swedish keeper. The hard working Muscat was substituted by Sammut late in the game. The injured Andre Agius also had to be susbtituted by other newcomer Mannie Muscat while Andre Schembri made way for Ryan Fenech.

In the dying minutes, Hogg saved Malta from further derision as he palmed out another Larsson shot.



Malta: A. Hogg, J. Caruana, S. Bajada, A. Agius (M. Muscat), J. Hutchinson, L. Dimech, J. Pace, A. Muscat (K. Sammut), A. Schembri (R. Fenech), R. Briffa, D. Bogdanovic