Czech Republic 3
Malta 1
Two second-half goals and a late penalty save from Petr Cech allowed Czech Republic to beat bottom of the table Malta 3-1 yesterday to record the first win of their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Malta could have scored a second goal in a last-gasp penalty kick, but Mifsud’s poor effort was unfortunately saved by Cech on stoppage time, in what would have been an embarassing result for the Czechs.
Yesterday’s defeat at the Doosan Arena in Plzen was the third consecutive one for the Maltese national team led by Pietro Ghedin.
Malta coach Ghedin made one change from the Italy qualifier, Bajada replacing the injured Daniel Bogdanovic.
Unsurprisingly, the Czechs held the initiative for long stretches, as they chased their first qualifying victory, after a goalless draw with Denmark.
Despite having suffered yet another defeat, Roderick Briffa is certainly proud to have scored Malta’s first goal in this qualifying phase, after having been beaten 0-1 against Armenia and 0-2 against Italy earlier on last month.
Yesterdy’s match was also a memorable experience for Hibernians yougster Ayrton Azzopardi, who made his debut for Malta in the last stages of the match.
All in all, Malta’s performance can be classified as a very positive one, where especially in the first half, where the Czechs were determined to create a hefty lead, were forced to go in for the break to the loud protests of their home fans.
As expected, the Czechs came out looking for an early goal, yet in front of 10,300 spectators, the Maltese players held their calm and displayed good organisation techniques.
In fact, the first chance the Czechs came across was a gift provided by the Malta side, when Dimech’s back pass towards Hogg whilst trying to put past Pekhart was not very precse, with the goalkeeper being lucky the ball went out.
The home side opened the scoring 34 minutes into the match, when Limbersky fled Malta’s defence on the left flank and crossed central, where GEBRIE SELESSIE rose above everyone to direct a looping header past Hogg.
The Malta side managed to remain calm and concentrated, and barely four minutes later, they completely silenced Doosan Arena.
This was when Maltese forward Roderick Briffa, undoubtedly one of Malta’s best players on the pitch yesterday, managed to gain control from outside the area in a personal intiative, went past two defenders, and surprised Petr Cech with a powerful shot, giving the goalkeeper no chance to react.
It was indeed a spectacular goal.
The Czechs increased their pressure in the second half, with Malta’s defence immediately appearing to be in crisis.
Malta were once again penalised with a header on 52 minutes, when after recieving from Plasil, Jiracek crossed central where TOMAS PEKHART surprised his marker Steve Borg and beat Hogg with a splendid header.
Malta seemed at toils to overcome the Czech defence, and seemed at a loss for ideas.
Their uncertainty was punished on 67 minutes, when Jiracek chipped towards Plasil in the area, who passed backwards towards JAN REZEK, who put the ball at the back of the net with a low shot.
Malta seemed to abandon their weapons now, rarely being offensive, letting the Czechs dictate play. Hogg denied Plasil and Jiracek with two miracolous saves in the last minutes of the match.
Yet when everyone was waiting for the final whistle, Steve Borg tried to head Briffa’s cross but was fouled in the area by defender Petrzela, with the referee from Azerbaijan awarding a penalty.
From the spot, captain Michael Mifsud could have added another goal to Malta’s tally. Yet his weak and poor shot on target was easily saved by goalkeeper Cech, denying Malta its second goal in these qualifiers. The Czechs now have four points from two games in Group B, whilst Malta are still with no points.
Czech. Republic: P. Cech, T. Gebre Selassie, M. Kadlec, T. Sivok, D. Limbersky, J. Rezek, F. Rajtoral (M. Petrzela), J. Pasil, T. Hubschman, P. Jiracek (V. Darida), T. Pakhart (D. Lafata)
Malta: A. Hogg, A. Muscat, G. Sciberras, A. Agius, L. Dimech, E. Herrera, R. Briffa, M. Mifsud, A. Schembri (P. Fenech), S. Borg, S. Bajada (A. Azzopardi)
Referee: Anar Salmanov (Azerbaijan)