The national team received a further two bashings in the World Cup qualifiers in the past few days – 6-0 and 4-1 defeats away to Sweden and Iceland respectively.

Those two results came soon after the excellent results obtained by our sportsmen in different disciplines who took part in the Games for European Small States in Andorra.

Of course, no one, not even yours truly, will dare to make any comparison with the opposition faced by the Maltese in Andorra and those faced by our footballers in Sweden and Iceland. It was completely different and it would be unfair to make such comparisons.

But having noted the reports of the two matches received from the various news agencies – I was in Andorra and not at Gothenburg and Reykjavik – it was evident that Malta was at the receiving end in both matches.

The reports indicated that Malta suffered humiliating defeats, perhaps even more than the results suggest. It is these reports which prompted me to write this commentary this week.

The defeat against Sweden was more or less expected. I am convinced no one in Malta would have dared to say that we had at least a one per cent chance of winning or at least drawing that match. That would have been too generous.

Yet, I do not think that our German coach played his cards correctly. He has also dragged his assistant Carmel Busuttil into telling us on many an occasion that they are working in the right direction and that they had the best elements in local football at present in their squad.

I, for one, do not agree. And this is why, in my opinion, it is not true that the national squad is open to all players. If that was so, why do we go to face such a strong team as Sweden with a team of lightweights, with all due respect to the players who represented Malta on that day? Do we have to be football experts to note that it is useless and meaningless to present a formation which is certain to be reduced to mincemeat by such classy and over-sized opponents?

Even a child would have asked: “Where was Darren Debono, where was William Camenzuli and where was Massimo Grima? Why were they not in the team at least to play Iceland, if not Sweden?” And that is simply because against Iceland we stood more chance of gaining a positive result.

As everyone is aware, there is no place for two of those players – Darren Debono and William Camenzuli – not even on a part-time basis. Massimo Grima was there on the bench as he formed part of the squad, though he did not form part of the team.

Let us not forget that all the three above mentioned players passed through one of their best seasons in their careers and, in my opinion, they should have been in the national squad – all three of them – at least for these matches, especially the match against Iceland.

Moreover, for the match in Reykjavik, five players were left out, probably for disciplinary reasons. Even here, I have to say I do not agree with such reasoning. Of course, everyone will agree that there should be disciplinary measures, but I would have preferred to see the players being heavily fined and reprimanded on arrival back home rather than ‘humiliating’ them by making them sit out the match on the substitutes bench.

We can never forget that our selection is very limited compared to that of other countries.

Today, I think everyone knows who was humiliated last Wednesday! Was it those players who did not take part or the coach and the team he presented to face Iceland? No surprise that the team was described as having been outclassed for most of the match – according to the match report received from Associated Press.

More important is the fact that it was the country’s name that was being mentioned in the European media and not Horst Heese. This is where the MFA has to come in and ask for explanations from the national coach as to what led to these two heavy defeats, especially the one against Iceland.

The association cannot go on for ever seeing the national team suffering such humiliations and acting as if nothing had happened. Unless a serious and justified explanation is presented, then the coach might even have to be asked to relinquish his post. In other countries, we hear of coaches tendering their resignation after some failure here and there, and not only at national team level.

Unfortunately this has never happened in Malta so far. But I believe it is high time to start doing something in this regard. The MFA is spending thousands of Maltese liri in training the Maltese national teams, but it is simply getting very, very little in return.

In the past I had full confidence in Heese, but at present, it seems as if the good old days are over and the national team needs some local blood – a Maltese coach who can inject some fresh enthusiasm into the side, someone who might bring back the good memories of the not so distant past, for example, Pippo Psaila, who had also led Malta to its only away victory in Tallinn, Estonia, in such competitions so far.

Give a bonus to the athletes

I am not repeating what I said last Sunday about the success of the Maltese athletes at the Andorra Games for European Small States.

Today I am only joining all those who have written or commented before me that these athletes deserve to be given a special bonus by the government after keeping Malta’s flag flying high in these Games which are getting increasingly popular.

We are speaking of a sum which probably will not exceed Lm25,000 and which is a drop in the ocean compared to several other expenses made throughout the year, which probably run into hundreds of thousands of liri.

Let’s give these athletes some recognition for their services and for the sacrifices they went through in the past five months. It would not only be a justified reward for their achievements but will also serve as the best motivation for future prospects, especially those athletes who will soon be representing the country once again, this time in Almeria, Spain, in the Mediterranean Games.

We cannot be mean with such athletes. I am sure all the Maltese people will join the chorus in calling for such a bonus to be paid out.