HENRY BRINCAT
Malta finished its commitments in Group C of the competition with a heavy defeat against Norway at Ta’ Qali yesterday evening.
Deserted by a good number of fans, even those at the South End Core, who must have preferred to watch the England-Croatia match on TV, the Maltese had to bow their heads against a stronger Norwegian side which made no secret of their intentions straight from the opening minute.
Norway came here with the intention of winning and hoping that Turkey drop some points from their home clash with Bosnia Herzegovina. In fact, till a few minutes before the interval, the Norwegians were on top of Turkey in the standings having opened a 2-0 lead over Malta with Turkey figuring in a goalless draw against Bosnia.
But by the end of the half, Turkey had taken the lead against Bosnia as Norway added a third goal. And so the Turks regained second place over Norway in the group. At the end, Norway’s victory in Malta proved futile as it was Turkey who went on to beat Bosnia to capture the second berth from Group C in next year’s finals.
In the first half, it was evident that Norway were out to cancel the sad memories of last Saturday’s bitter home defeat against Turkey. They played flowing football all the way and had Malta at sixes and sevens especially on the two flanks where Roderick Briffa and Ian Azzopardi were often in difficulty.
The Maltese were rarely given the opportunity to move forward in the first 30 minutes and both Mifsud and Schembri appeared to be struggling to make headway against the strong tackling Norwegian defenders.
In the second half, Malta had a good start when Michael Mifsud reduced the arrears, but their rally fell apart on 67 minutes when Andre Schembri was given marching orders. In ten men, Malta was no longer a match for the visitors who went on to add a fourth goal - the best of the bunch.
With Brian Said missing through suspension, with Gilbert Agius still missing and with George Mallia ruled out through work commitments, Fitzel opted to drop Josef Mifsud from Saturday’s formation in Athens and gave a start to the taller Stephen Wellman in defence.
Back in the starting line-up were Luke Dimech and Ivan Woods, after having served their one-match suspension in Athens. Woods took the place of Kevin Sammut who was not even among the squad for yesterday’s match, probably due to injury.
On the fifth minute, Haber was already a protagonist as he turned to corner in style a John Arne Riise dangerous freekick.
On the 10th minute, Udo Nwoko had a shot from the edge of the area going well wide of the Norwegian post.
Five minutes later, at the other end, Haber saved Malta's posts from a would-be own goal after Wellman hit badly in trying to clear a Carew header off a John Arne Riise throw in.
Norway missed a sitter on 21 minutes. Skjelbred controlled a ball well on the left flank of the area. His low cross had the Maltese defence - including goalie Haber - completely beaten, but Steffen Iversen, alone in front of an untenanted net, incredibly hit the ball wide.
Two minutes later, as Norway increased the pressure on the Malta goal, Carew headed just over after receiving a cross from Bjorn Helge Riise.
They reaped merited reward on 24 minutes. From a Storbaek cross from the right, Steffen Iversen had no difficulty in heading home from three metres.
Two minutes later, Norway were awarded a penalty when Jamie Pace pushed Carew in the area. From the resultant spotkick, the former Tottenham star Iversen scored his and Norway’s second.
Malta replied through a Jamie Pace effort on 29 minutes. But Opdal was equal to the task as he smothered the ball to a corner. Three minutes later, Pace again went close with a freekick that went just wide.
With two minutes to go for the interval whistle, Vidar Riseth went close for Norway with a shot that passed across goal.
On the stroke of time, Iversen obtained his hat-trick when he was left unmarked on a long ball which he controlled beautifully before planting it into the net.
Malta hit back to reduce the gap on 53 minutes. From an Ian Azzopardi cross, the ball was headed into Michael Mifsud’s path. The Coventry striker won a tackle with Hangeland and beat Opdal with a low shot.
On the 14th minute, goalie Opdal had to dive sideways to save a header from Udo Nwoko who had received a cross from Briffa. And three minutes later, Malta was unlucky not to have scored again when off a Woods corner, Nwoko’s fine shot hit the upright with the ball being scrambled to safety by the Norwegian defence. Nwoko was again in action soon after with a low shot that went just wide.
Malta was dealt a setback when on the 67th minute, Andre Schembri received a second yellow card after simulating a penalty.
Five minutes later Bjorn Helge Riise again missed the target when ideally placed. But it was 4-1 on 75 minutes. And what a goal it was! Skjelbred crossed perfectly into the area for Pedersen to beat Haber with an excellent header. It should be labelled a Eurogoal!
On 78 minutes, it was Haber who denied Skjelbred from adding another, saving his close range header in style with Wellman finally clearing the ball away.
On 86 minutes, Helstad again tested Haber, but the Malta goalie covered himself with glory, turning to corner.
Near the end, the Norwegian fans must have had a false alarm as they started celebrating. They must have been led to believe that Bosnia had clinched a draw in Turkey, but their celebrations soon turned into disappointment when they got to know that it was Turkey who emerged winners 1-0.