It was a nightmare for Malta yesterday at Ta’ Qali. Croatia proved to be too strong for Malta as the boys in red were outclassed and humiliated. We were somehow unaccustomed to such defeats, but the debacle against Slovenia last month was the initial warning.
Yesterday it was even worse and Mangia has to re-group his group and raise their spirits before our final match on Sunday against Slovakia, and this will not be easy after such a hammering.
Mangia started with Agius, Shaw and Pepe at the back, with Cain Attard and Camenzuli on the flanks. Teuma and Kristensen were the midfield pair, with Joseph Mbong, Montebello, and Degabriele forming the attacking trio.
Malta could not have had a worse start losing the ball in defence after five minutes with Perisic easily slotting the ball home. The Malta defence was under constant pressure as Croatia pressed high on the Maltese defenders.
In a rare break on 14 minutes Malta managed to put the ball at the back of the net but Degabriele’s goal was ruled offside after a lengthy VAR consultation.
On 22 minutes Croatia doubled the score when a Modric freekick was headed in by Caleta-Car. The Croats were all over the place with the boys in red always on the receiving end.
However on 31 minutes the local supporters had something to cheer about when Degabriele weaved his way on the right before crossing towards Montebello, with Brozovic beating his own goalkeeper in an attempt to clear.
Malta grew in confidence but was caught on the wrong foot on 39 minutes with Pasalic scoring the third goal after a Kramaric run.
In stoppage time Croatia scored a fourth goal with another slick move finished off by Modric with a low drive.
Mangia made the first change at the start of the second half but after only two minutes the ball was again behind Bonello when Majer fired home from the rebound after Bonello had brilliantly saved a Kramaric header. On 53 minutes, another mistake in midfield and with Bonello out of place, Kramaric scored from over 40 meters. Majer scored again on 64 minutes making it 7-1.
Luckily the goal glut ended there and the final whistle was a huge relief for Malta.