Saturday, 6th September 2008 - 22:12CET

Updated:Malta lose 4-0 to dominant Portugal

Portugal got their World Cup qualifying campaign off to a classy start on Saturday with a 4-0 victory over Malta at Ta' Qali.

Second-half strikes from Hugo Almeida, Simao Sabrosa and Nani rubber-stamped a first competitive win for coach Carlos Queiroz after Malta defender Brian Said had scored an own goal to give Portugal a 1-0 halftime lead.

Portugal saw more of the ball in a first half that was interrupted for around 10 minutes due to a partial power failure.

Despite their possession, Portugal created only a handful of scoring chances. Their opener came on 25 minutes when Jose Bosingwa, cutting inside from the right, delivered a low cross and Said deflected the ball into his own net as he tried to clear.

Nani came closest to doubling Portugal's lead before halftime but his lob from inside the penalty box drew a fine save from Malta goalkeeper Justin Haber.

Portugal made the points safe 16 minutes into the second half when Almeida doubled their lead with a fierce shot from outside the box.

Quieroz's men cruised through the second half, hitting two more goals to knock the fight out of the tiring Maltese team. Simao Sabrosa made it 3-0 with a close-range shot on 71 minutes after Haber had parried a dangerous shot from Nani who, seven minutes later, fired home Portugal's fourth goal.

Portugal host Denmark in their second Group One qualifier on Wednesday while Malta are away to Albania. The other teams in Group One are Sweden and Hungary.

Comments

John Borg (on 8/9/08)

@ Karl: This corruption excuse is old hat. It has been around for ever and will be around forever, not only in Malta, but world-wide. Do you remember when the Italian seria A was rocked by the corruption scandal and Paolo Rossi was even jailed? What happened after that? They went on to win the world cup! Malta is simply a tiny country and our gene pool is too small to produce a squad of top class players all in one team. One every now and then maybe, but not more. It's simple demographics. Iceland and Cyprus are exceptional teams contrary to this theory maybe, but they too will never be world beaters. They will enjoy the odd win every now and then, but not more. We have enjoyed the odd win and draw and should be proud, because it is an awesome achievement when you compare like with like.
As for Emmy Bezzina, any reply to him is a waste of time. He knows nothing about football, so I will let his comments pass.

Karl Abela (on 8/9/08)

In a way, Dr Bezzina is right about his thoughts. If anyone cared to understand him,you will understand the not-well-known fact that nowadays the drive behind football and any other sport is not the passion, but the money. Although the money is small, its the bribe money that is most sought after. Hence local football does not exist. All clubs out there know what I am talking about. When a star suddenly acts like a 4 yr old footballer you know that his wallet has been pimped. This discourages serious training and has got its toll on the national team. We played with physically weak and unmotivated players. They can not even be called athletes. It was like a game of bowling. Portugal = bowling ball; Malta = bowling pins.

Gary Mercieca (on 8/9/08)

Well said Louis, we will be there next Wednesday cause we are still proud and have pride for our national team.

Kevin Mallia (on 8/9/08)

Reading the comments here make me ashamed to see maltese fans bagging their team just after they played a very good team in Portugal who are in the top 10 in the FIFA rankings. Malta's problem is they dont have enough players playing in europe. You only have to look at Micheal Mifsud to see his improvement playing abroad. Playing week in week out against good opposition will only improve the skill and pace of the players. The MPL doesn't do that. Also when I was a young kid back in the 70's I played for my school Msida St.Joseph in the schools league. Is that still going? The M.F.A. needs to join with the schools and the club nerseries to work with the young kids and you will see some results. I will always be a proud maltese fan even though I've been living outside Malta since 1980 in Australia and as of late in the USA. Good luck against Albania.

Adrian Camilleri (on 8/9/08)

Albania-Sweden 0-0
Cyprus - Italy 1-2
Norway - Iceland 2-2
Belgium-Estonia 3-2
Andorra-England 0-2

Then we lose 0-4 at home, and we say it's a good result because we played the team ranked 9th in the world etc.. Not a good football mentality, if you ask me.

First of all, why Dusan Fitzel continues to misplace players in the formation and place them not in the roles they are used with their clubs ?

For example Roderick Briffa, he rarely plays as a right-back with Sliema. Same goes for Shaun Bajada, I've never seen him playing the left-back role for B'kara. Neither I've seen Ivan Woods playing as a left-midfielder turned in somewhat left-wing back style.

And how come Mr. Visit-Malta.com is our number 1 keeper ? He barely played a single game this year! Ok, Hogg is injured (cos he's by far better than Haber at the moment), but I wouldn't had started with him at the goal. He could 'easily' saved Almeida's goal, and even the one he 'gave' to Simao.

Louis Agius (on 8/9/08)

Why are we so critical about the Our National team, we should always cheer our lads , in all circumstances , What happened all of a sudden, so what, we lost 0 -4 to the 9th strongest in the world!, I am proud of all the SOUTH END CORE that encouraged the team through the whole match, All of a sudden our heroes became villains? Have you people forgot that we managed to hold turks in a 2-2 draw, 1-1 against Moldova ,1-1 the croats, A 2-1 victory over Hungary, 7-1 over Leichenstein ? (i did not remember seeing any comments from Dr Emy Bezzina after these matches) Those results where obtained with the same players that took the field yesterday, So what if cyprus lost only 1-2 to italy?, as far as i remember we had the same result with the italians in ta'qali,.It was a bad day for the lads, these things happen , I think that we came a long way from the 0-8 against the dutch ,the three consecutive 6-0 defeats under Mr kosanovic. WE WILL BE IN 120 people IN ALBANIA CHEERING OUR LADS I am proud of these boys,

jenifer Cefai (on 7/9/08)

Reading the report it seems to be again a one sided game. To compete with a chance of parity against other national teams, Malta need to think seriously to have professional players. Is there possibility for our players to become professionals (full timers)? Is it only wishful thinking?

Timothy Farrugia (on 7/9/08)

Yesterday Malta made us proud they gave Potugal a good run for their money. then the first 2 goals were a bit unfortunate. but you have to remember that most of the maltese team are part time players who go to work then use the little energy they have after work to train!!! the portugues do not have work stress so they have all their energy focused on football apart from having more time to train!!! having said that tough i did not expect the maltese team at times to give away possession so easily. passing at times was horrible. also, there was not any support in the attacking. once mifsud had the ball he could only try to dribble because no one went up to give him support so he d skip one player, have no one to pass to then would finally lose the ball. definitely not his fault. also, it was great to be part of such a big support for our local boys

Charles Camenzuli (on 7/9/08)

Read with interest comments of either those who have an interest in football and others who are mere critics. Been involved in sport for 35 years and definitely todays media headings are just the same as they were 35 years ago. Same results if not worse. Same excuses and after all same mediocre level of the local game. With all due respect considering the local administration football, by far the strongest, the healthiest and the one which gets hefty subsidies from UEFA and FIFA should be able to have a better national team set up where the results that count will be to credit. Let's not refer to friendlies where teams come here for the sake of ' i rub your back and you rub mine' . Recent friendlies were a clear example. The matches that count are those which really matter.
YES the minor sport and OTHER sport make Malta proud. In football were're more than ever the Cindirella. Even local government authorities should understand that funds are to be generated in those sports disciplines where national pride and results are on the agenda.
1 match is off.......0 points...next match in a couple of days time. Any bet !!

Christopher Briffa (on 7/9/08)

Dr Emy Bezzina, first of all a game of football is played between 22 players, eleven on each side and not 21 as you said and just for your information the ball is not made of plastic. You should also check your spelling as it`s hors d`ouvre and not hors d`ouef. On the other hand I must congratulaate you as reading your comments here is always a hilarious experience.

Sandro Pace (on 7/9/08)

When I observe the progress made by Cyprus and Iceland, both islands with almost the same population size, I realise how much backward we remained. Portugal are a great team, but the limitations and deficiencies seen yesterday has nothing to do with size, population or facilities.

The Maltese players are slow, with average technique and control. This has nothing to do with the present Maltese national coaches (and sometimes I wonder why they risk their name here). IMO it has to do with lack of practice, with unacademic nursery coaches, lack of schools and the Maltese players themselves, which seem content to stop developing once they reach Maltese premiere league level, which is a farce.

The only positive thing from this is that we can see such great players in Malta, which has elated football to a work of art and finesse.

ALBERT FENECH (on 7/9/08)

What a gush of hysteria from some of your contributors, including Dr Emmy Bezzina. Has he forgotten the days when clubs like Ferencvaros and Rapid Wien came to Malta and whacked our local heroes with cricket scores? Last night, England (a team worth hundreds of millions of euro) scraped through against Andorra, Italy (worth more hundreds of millions of euros) were more than lucky to grab an injury-time winner against Cyprus. Malta and its semi-professionals went down to a Portuguese team ranked NINTH in the world of football, a team worth more hundreds of millions of euros. In six of the last previous eight meetings with Portugal, Malta confined them to slender one goal victories and even a draw in Portugal. So, let's quit the hysterics from the wise guys. We have a population of 400,000 pitted against the teeming millions we come up against. Let's keep everything in proportion. Over the last 24 months Malta's players have achieved miracles but don't expect a miracle every time we play. Have we forgotten the 7-1 thrashing of Liechtenstein, the 2-2 draw against Turkey, the draws against Croatia and Austria and the away draw to Moldova? FORZA MALTA!

K Bonello (on 7/9/08)

@Dr. Emmy Bezzina

You should contest the next MFA presidential election.... maybe with your bright ideas we can win the next world cup, and our clubs, under your enlightened guidance, maybe win the Champions League.

Rupert Perry (on 7/9/08)

A few of the comments I am reading here are unbelievable. Portugal are one of the best teams in Europe and play total football. This team is nicknamed the Brazil of European football. It is easy to criticize our National Team, but thus anyone of you know what massive efforts are done during the WHOLE YEAR by our team players? I happen to know how many hours these people dedicate to this fantastic sport, and how many times these people are called names in an unjustly manner. Anyone of you criticizing this massive effort should be ashamed. At least you should get to know what is behind a football match before you criticize. One might argue about the fact that we never improved. All of us have so much of a short memory do we!!!! Why don’t you ask the Turks if we improved or not? Why don’t you ask the Hungarians and the Croatians if we improved or not?

R.Buttigeig (on 7/9/08)

I can't comment about the game since I dont understand football. All I can say is just one thing. I was at ta'qali yesterday and was ashamed for once to be Maltese. We have no sense of sportsmanship. As soon as the Portugal national team scored their 3rd goal, supporters from all around the place were leaving the stadium. It is a great shame for not supporting our team by showing them that we are there for the good and bad times.

Dr. Emmy Bezzina, LL.D.,Dip.S.Th., (on 7/9/08)

Please STOP meting out to your readers idiotic Press Conferences anticipating the GOLIATH - DAVID Factor in Pre-Match communications. These ridiculous Media Gatherings are only intended as an hors d`ouef for those who have nothing better to do than go and watch 21 male creatures running like dogs after a plastic round object called a BALL! MALTA has invested well-nigh millions in a quarter of a century to attempt to improve our footballing skills which in my boyhood days we indeed had - THOSE WERE THE MEN WITH not so-circular assets WHO WERE OUR EVERGREEN FOOTBALLERS...now we have ADDITIONAL - INCOME Seekers who know well in advance that ALL IS A PUBLICITY STUNT even regailed by OWN GOALS! ALPHA`s advice is: ELIMINATE ALL FOREIGN COACHES, INVITE PERSONS WHO TRULY LOVE THE GAME, INVEST in a PROFESSIONAL CAREER since BOYHOOD DAYS,eliminating the wheat from the chaff as the evaluating process gains momentum.Footballers must be dedicated Professionals in our day and age not partying pansies who seek self-sympathy each time we are on an international commitment.I do not comment on local footbal - IT SIMPLY DOES NOT EXIST & EVERYONE KNOWS THAT MUCH ! ALPHA LIBERAL.l

Lewis Balzan (on 7/9/08)

Maybe we should leave professional sports for the big boys and continue to focus all our energies and resources on what we excel in: religious bigotry, village festa carnivals and fireworks, illegal bird-hunting, indiscriminate littering, noise and environmental pollution etc etc etc..

M.Costa (on 7/9/08)

hehehehehehehe.

D.Galea (on 7/9/08)

I wonder why do they even bother going down on the pitch!? The only thing they only seem to be able to get is injuries but hey thanks for trying!...maybe.

Adrian Cachia (on 6/9/08)

It did not take long for the supporters to go back to other times!! Malta was invisible!! I know and understand Portugal is a stronger side...But I cannot accept that Malta was losing the ball so easily and all the inaccuracy in passing the ball. Just a hint...nowadays you rarely see a player dribble more then an opponent....so why do the maltese players keep doing that???

Sandro Agius (on 6/9/08)

This was a tough match indeed but this does not mean we have no possibilties to make good results in next message. We must continue believe in ourselves and doing our best we can bring good results too. We hope that with Albania it can be a better result.

Not a nice result but good job Malta for doing your best. Thanks

Next article • Updated: Partial power failure interrupts Malta-Portugal match

Article © Allied Newspapers Ltd., printed on Thursday, November 20, 2008. This article is for personal use only, and should not be distributed.

Updated:Malta lose 4-0 to dominant Portugal

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