A Michael Mifsud goal on his celebration day – he was appearing in his 100th match for Malta – was not enough to lift the spirits of the Malta team and the fans at Ta’ Qali yesterday evening.
The Czechs proved to be a superior outfit from the start and they deserved their victory after controlling the match from start to finish.
The evening started on a sobre note as during the Maltese national anthem, despite compere Colin Fitz’s announcement that it would be played in full, the crowd applauded as the first part was played and the Czech players immediately started the parade of shaking hands with the referees and the Maltese players.
Before the start, Michael Mifsud was presented with a jersey bearing the number 100 as well as a cap and a UEFA?medal to commemorate his 100th appearance for Malta.
The presentation was made jointly by Dr Stefan Buontempo, Parliamentary Secretary for Sport, and MFA president Norman Darmanin Demajo.
Ghedin opted for a four-man defence which included Ryan Camilleri, Jonathan Caruana, Luke Dimech and Alex Muscat. Roderick Briffa, Rowen Muscat, Clayton Failla and John Mintoff were in midfield as was Cohen who, however, played in a more advanced role, just behind Michael Mifsud.
Regular midfielders Edward Herrera and Gareth Sciberras, as well as defender Andrei Agius were left on the bench. Andre Schembri was ruled out through suspension.
In the first half, the Czechs quickly took the game in hand after taking an early lead. From then on, it was again another uphill task for Ghedin’s boys who appeared shocked.
Yet, they found the courage to move upfield and went close to scoring an equalizer on a couple of occasions before the Czechs again took command of midfield.
It was a pity that once again we gifted a goal to our opponents. This time it was again goalie Justin Haber who effected a bad sortie giving Lafata the easiest of headers into an untenanted net.
At the start of the second half, it seemed as if the match had come to life when Mifsud pulled a goal back after just two minutes. But all hopes were dashed to the ground soon after as the Czechs scored their third goal to re-establish their two-goal lead.
After that the visitors remained firmly in command of midfield and never again gave the Maltese a chance to have another real pot at goal, even if Cohen was centimeters close to scoring midway through the half.
One cannot say that Malta’s boys did not fight, but the difference in class between the two teams was quite evident. I could not the good performance of midfielders Roderick Briffa and Rowen Muscat while Mifsud, apart from scoring our only goal, also had a couple of good moves, but he was too isolated up front.
The match started on a sad note for Malta as the Czechs quickly took the lead in the third minute. It was Husbauer who passed back to Tomas Hubschman whose first timer hit Rowen Muscat and deceived Haber, the latter, just failing to turn the ball to a corner.
It was the fourth consecutive time that Malta suffered an early goal.
Malta’s reply arrived on the 12th minute when Cohen’s dangerous cross had Cech punching the ball away to safety.
A better chance arrived three minutes later when Alex Muscat set John Mintoff beautifully, but Cech rushed out of his charge to anticipate the Malta striker in extremis.
In the 20th minute, Malta almost equalised when after a lapse by a Czech defender, Michael Mifsud was involved in a fine personal move in the Czech area. But after avoiding his immediate opponent his close range effort was blocked by Cech.
At the other end, in the 23rd minute, a Dockal shot hit the upright with the ball going wide. Moments later, Haber was called into action saving a low shot from Vaclav Kadlec.
A David Lafata fine effort went harmlessly over the bar.
The Czechs added a second goal on the 34th minute. And it was one of those unfortunate errors once again. From a cross by Frantisek, it was David Lafata who anticipated a bad sortie by Justin Haber to head into the empty net.
Malta reduced the arrears soon after the start of the second half. Briffa set Mifsud in the area and the Malta striker controlled the ball well before hitting past Cech. A goal on his celebration day which was acclaimed by all those at the Ta’ Qali Stadium!
But Malta’s joy was shortlived. Two minutes later, in a confused action in front of our goal, it was Vaclav Kadlec who back heeled the ball into the net after the Malta defence had blocked a first attempt by Lafata.
In the 57th minute, off a Failla cross, the ball was cleared out to Rowen Muscat whose low cross-shot was just missed by Cohen, all alone in front of goal.
In the 66th minute, Haber did well to turn to corner a Frantisek effort.
From then on, the Czechs were in total command and simply administered their lead although there was still time to add a fourth goal through substitute Tomas Pekhart in added time.
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Coach Pietro Ghedin was obviously a very disappointed man after the match and expressed his bad feeling by criticizing Malta’s first half performance.
Ghedin described as the worst by the national team since taking over in June last year.
He said that the team is conceding too many goals from mistakes. “We cannot suffer goals in this way” said the Italian coach. “Such mistakes are letting us down because our strong opponents punish us heavily in such competitions”.
Ghedin was satisfied with Andrew Cohen’s performance, substituting the suspended Andre Schembri yesterday. But the coach was mostly surprised with Rowen Muscat. He described the Birkirkara midfielder as the surprise choice in Malta’s line-up.
Meanwhile, Valletta’s central defender Jhonatan Caruana, who was substituted in the second half, was taken to hospital but the extent of his injury is not yet known. Caruana is however a doubt for Malta’s match against Denmark next Tuesday.