Expected Italian ‘goleada’ fails to materialise; Maltese leave Stadio Braglia with heads held high

Italy 2

Malta 0

Italy: Buffon; Cassani, Barzagli, Bonucci, Peluso; Nocerino, Pirlo, Marchisio; Diamanti (Insigne); Osvaldo (Pazzini), Destro (Giovinco)

Malta: A. Hogg; S. Borg, L. Dimech, A Agius, A. Muscat (R. Camilleri); E. Herrera, G. Sciberras, R. Briffa, D. Bogdanovic (A. Cohen); M. Mifsud, A. Schembri

Referee: A. Manukka (FIN)

Yellow cards: A. Muscat, A. Schembri, A. Cohen, A. Hogg

Malta suffered its second consecutive defeat yesterday evening in Modena as Ghedin’s boys lost 2-0 against mighty Italy – Euro 2012 finalists.

And early fifth minute strike by Destro and a second in added time before the final whistle by Peluso was all that Italy could muster. In fact, the expected Italian ‘goleada’ failed to materialise.

The boys in white and red produced a performance which made all Maltese proud. In fact, they managed to frustrate the Italians thanks to a well organised defence and a compact midfield.

At the end, they could leave the pitch with their heads held high. That was what Ghedin had asked of them before the match and they responded in an excellent manner.

Malta started its World Cup qualifying campaign with a 1-0 home defeat to Armenia last week.

Coach Pietro Ghedin made only one change to the side that started the Ta’ Qali match last Friday. He preferred Birkirkara’s Edward Herrera instead of Hibernians’ midfielder Andrew Cohen.

Otherwise, as he had said before the match, he made no radical changes.

As had been expected, Italian coach Cesare Prandelli made a number of changes to the side which left a bitter taste in its opener against Bulgaria last Friday.

For yesterday’s match, Prandelli shelved the 3-5-2 system and returned to a 4-3-1-2 with Diamanti behind Roma strikers Destro and Osvaldo.

Moreover, Antonio Nocerino stepped in for the injured Daniele De Rossi, while Mattia Cassani and Federico Peluso replaced Christian Maggio and Emanuele Giaccherini.

It was the fifth match between both countries with Italy winning on all five occasions, scoring 15 and conceding only two.

In the first half, as was widely expected, Italy dominated from start to finish with Pirlo and Marchisio taking complete control of midfield.

Malta was under pressure for most of the time, especially after suffering an early goal. But after that, Malta appeared to be well organised with five men at the back, four in midfield and just Michael Mifsud up front. The latter had just one occasion – a shot from over 40 metres with Buffon out of position.

Schembri had to partner Mifsud in attack. But he did a very good job in shadowing veteran Pirlo, one of the Azzurri’s most applauded players.

Malta was not given much chance to move forward, but when the occasion arose, our boys never appeared intimated by the might of their opponents.

Despite their total dominance, Italy found it difficult to go past the well-organised Maltese defence in which Agius, Dimech and Borg were outstanding.

At the interval, it was evident that the Italians were very unhappy with what was going on and there were also some jeers and whistles from the crowd as the teams entered the dressing rooms.

In the second half, the pattern of play did not differ with the Italians in control, especially after the entry of Napoli striker Insigne. However, they still found it difficult to penetrate as the Maltese never collapsed despite the odds being all stacked against them.

At the end, Italy, as expected, took the three points, but they were made to fight harder than expected.

The result enabled Italy to move to the top of the standings, together with Bulgaria, on four points. Next are Armenia on three, Denmark and the Czech Republic have one point each and Malta no points. Denmark and the Czech Republic have played only one match.

After a slow start by both teams, Italy took the lead after just five minutes when Marchisio sent Destro through in the Malta area and the Roma striker easily beat Hogg.

The Malta goalie was the protagonist in the 12th minute, saving excellently a Diamanti freekick.

It was Osvaldo who then went close with a header off a Marchisio corner. He anticipated Hogg, but his header went wide.

In the 17th minute, as Italy continued to press home their superiority, it was Dimech who cleared to corner in extremis before Osvaldo could conclude in front of goal.

Close to the 30th minute, Malta, quite surprisingly, almost equalised. Mifsud, in the only occasion he had the ball at his feet, saw Buffon out of position and tried his luck from mid-pitch. The ball went over the bar, but not far off from goal. He deserved the applause from the crowd for such a brave effort.

Soon after it was Roderick Briffa who had a 20 metre effort turned to corner by Buffon earning the team its first corner.

Italy replied on 36 minutes with a Bonucci shot that went wide.

Till the end of the first half, Malta contained its opponents well and Hogg never appeared to be in trouble again.

Italy went all out on attack in the second half, but Malta again defended stoutly and they only threatened through a cross shot from substitute Peluso in the 54th minute which landed on the net.

They came close to scoring, however, two minutes later, when from a Nocerino low cross, Hogg just managed to tip the ball away before Destro could conclude.

On the hour, it was Hogg who again came to Malta’s rescue as he dived at Insigne’s feet as the latter was heading towards goal.

Malta, for once, moved forward through Dimech, whose shot from outside the area went over.

In the 68th minute, Italy went close to a second goal through a Marchisio shot that flew just over the bar.

Bonucci had two successive attempts. The first was blocked and the rebound went well over the bar.

On the 76th minute, it was substitute Pazzini who had a flick off an Insigne cross going wide.

The main disappointment arrived in the second minute of added time when Italy scored their second goal. Following a corner (it should have been a freekick for Malta after a handling infringement from Pazzini) by Pirlo, a header by Peluso was deviated into the net by Cohen, standing on the goal line.

Satisfaction for Ghedin

National coach Pietro Ghedin was more than satisfied with the performance of his boys yesterday evening.

Speaking to Rai TV commentators after the match, he said the players merited his praise because they managed to close almost all the gaps giving such an illustrious opponent few spaces.

Ghedin also praised Andre Schembri for his role in marking Pirlo. The Italian coach said it was a difficult task, especially that his normal role is that of a striker.

Ghedin attributed Italy’s unconvincing performance to the commitment and determination of his boys. “I think we played well at the back and my players played their hearts out,” said Ghedin.

Asked whether Destro was offside on the occasion of the first goal, Ghedin was shown the action and admitted that it could have been offside, but did not commit himself.