Dominant Portugal hammer toothless Malta to reach play-offs

Portugal 4
Nani 13; Simao 45; Veloso 52; Edinho 89
Malta 0

At a meeting for coaches and officials of the national teams in Group One ahead of the 2010 World Cup qualifying trek, held in Denmark last year, Malta agreed to play Portugal away on the final day because, it was presumed, that they would already be home and dry by then. Fate decreed otherwise.

Little Malta, with just one point and not a single goal scored in their previous nine qualifiers, came into last night's match in Guimaraes knowing their mountainous task had been rendered all the more complicated with the European heavyweights needing to win at all costs to keep their hopes of advancing to next year's finals alive.

Pre-match expectations were met as Portugal outclassed Malta to secure second place and a slot in the play-offs.

This match epitomised the travails encountered by Malta in a dismal campaign.

John Buttigieg's men showed plenty of graft but lacked the creativity, physical prowess and cutting edge to hold their own against superior opponents.

It says all about the poverty of our attacking play that the team failed to score in 10 qualifiers. Malta never threatened to break their scoring duck as Buttigieg's attacking threat was as good as nil.

That Malta would find it hard to carve openings against Portugal was to be expected but this should not be offered as an excuse for the team's toothless performance.

These are still early days for Buttigieg but it seems that under his tutelage, Malta have become overly defensive. Also, his decision to overlook a host of established players, the likes of Luke Dimech, the team's defensive bulwark under Dusan Fitzel, Andrei Agius, Daniel Bogdanovic, Andrè Schembri and Terrence Scerri, is hard to fathom, given that our resources are so thin.

Yesterday, Buttigieg also elected to leave Gilbert Agius, the team's experienced captain, out of his first XI.

John Hutchinson, his replacement, turned in a solid performance, as did Manny Muscat, Malta's other player of Australian descent, but one expected Agius to enter the fray after Andrew Cohen succumbed to injury after just 22 minutes. This was not forthcoming as Agius was kept on the bench for the entire match.

As kick-off loomed, the decibel level at the D. Afonso Henriques Stadium, home of Vitoria Guimareas, rose considerably. Chants of 'Portugal, Portugal' reverberated around this compact stadium as the players stepped onto the pitch.

Brian Said was declared fit to start as he recovered from muscle strain. The veteran defender was handed the captain's armband in Agius's absence. Hutchinson was assigned the unenviable task of protecting Malta's four-man rearguard alongside Jamie Pace.

At the back, Said was partnered by Kenneth Scicluna with Ian Azzopardi and Manny Muscat patrolling the left and right flanks respectively.

Roderick Briffa started on the right of midfield and Shaun Bajada on the left.

Cohen, one of Malta's better performers against Angola last weekend, was deployed at the tip of a five-man midfield with Michael Mifsud detailed to spearhead Malta's attack.

Ronaldo's injury meant that Carlos Queiroz had to make one change from the team that saw off Hungary but the Portugal coach didn't limit himself to one alteration.

Manchester United winger Nani filled the void left by Ronaldo, Pepe replaced Bruno Alves and Miguel Veloso came on for Duda.

Less than two minutes from the initial whistle had expired when Simao exchanged passes with the mobile Nani but his shot lacked the power to trouble Andrew Hogg. In next to no time, the Malta goalkeeper was forced into a more difficult save when pushing out Nani's scorcher before Pace headed the ball away.

As expected, Portugal, with Deco supplying flair in the final third, applied pressure on Malta from the off. Nani breezed past Azzopardi but hit wide.

On 12 minutes, Miguel Veloso delivered a dangerous ball from the left but Nani headed just wide. Shortly afterwards, Raul Mereiles set up Liedson who shot goalwards but Hogg was well positioned to block.

It was not long before Portugal broke the deadlock though.

Pouncing on a short clearance by Pace, Deco fed Nani who turned adroitly before firing low past Hogg.

Portugal's supremacy in the opening stages was such that most of the time, they had eight players in the Malta half as the two flank defenders, Bosingwa and Veloso pushed forward incessantly.

Midway through the first half, Buttigieg was forced into a reshuffle as Cohen abandoned the field after pulling a hamstring. His place was taken by Clayton Failla.

Muscat caught the eye with a surging run from defence but his pass to Mifsud was cut out by the Portugal defenders.

Nani was proving a thorn in the side of Malta's defence with his sprightly movement on the right.

On one occasion, the Portugal winger outfoxed Azzopardi but his shot flashed against the side-netting. Nani then turned provider, delivering an inviting cross into the goalmouth but Liedson headed wide.

As the first half wore on, Malta began to breathe more easily as Portugal's attacking threat receded.

Hogg did well to smother away a Deco corner but just when it looked as though the score would remain unchanged until the end of the first half, Portugal doubled their lead.

Malta again paid the price for a miscued clearance as Said failed to cut out a cross from the right and the unmarked Simao duly profited with a sweetly-struck shot.

The second half was only seven minutes old when Portugal increased their lead.

Deco burst through on the right before serving Nani whose low cross triggered a melee. The loose ball rolled into the path of Veloso who blasted home.

The game was now well and truly over as a contest. Liedson threatened to pile on the agony for Malta when he turned past Scicluna in the box but sent his shot wide with only Hogg to beat.

Queiroz afforded Liedson and Meireles an early rest as the duo made way for Edinho and Nuno Assis 18 minutes into the second half.

With 17 minutes remaining, Buttigieg brought on Ryan Fenech for Bajada who had been one of Malta's most creative players. Portugal appeared to switch to cruise control as the second half progressed.

Nuno Assis fashioned a rising shot that flew over the bar.

Eight minutes from time, Hogg denied Portugal a fourth goal when keeping out Pepe's header from Simao's cross.

In the dying minutes, however, Edinho charged through the Malta defence, resisted Said's challenge before making it 4-0 with a cute flick.

Portugal
Eduardo, Bosingwa, Ricardo Carvalho, Pedro Mendes, Deco, Liedson ('63 Edinho), Simao, Miguel Veloso, Pepe, Raul Meireles ('63 N. Assis), Nani ('73 Joao Moutinho).

Malta
A. Hogg, M. Muscat, I. Azzopardi, B. Said, J. Hutchinson, S. Bajada ('73 R. Fenech), R. Briffa ('88 K. Sammut), M. Mifsud, A. Cohen ('22 C. Failla), K. Scicluna, J. Pace.

Referee: Alan Kelly (Ireland).

Yellow cards: Scicluna; Failla; Bosingwa; Pepe.

Attendance: 29,350.

Malta players' ratings

Hogg-6.5, Muscat-6.5, Azzopardi-5, Said-5, Hutchinson-6.5, Bajada-6.5, Briffa-5, Mifsud-5, Cohen-5, Scicluna-5.5, Pace-5.

Subs: Failla-5, Fenech-5, Sammut.