Israel pressing stifled us – Pace

A 3-1 reverse to Israel on Thursday hardly represented the best start to Malta’s Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.

The Malta players’ delusion stemmed mostly from their collective inability to cope with the pace set by Israel for much of the qualifier at the Ramat Gan Stadium.

One of the few positives was Jamie Pace’s headed goal which ended the team’s drought in competitive matches. Malta had failed to find the net in 10 qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup, collecting a single point in the process.

Pace, a senior member in John Buttigieg’s squad, was one of a handful of Malta players to emerge with credit from Thursday’s encounter.

Though visibly disappointed with the result, Pace insisted that Israel’s flat-out approach made it very hard for Malta to find any rhythm.

“Performance-wise, it was difficult to do more than we did,” Pace told The Times.

“I’ve been involved in many international matches but I’ve rarely come across a team who pressed as much as Israel. Their pressing was non-stop, it was incredible.

“At the end of the day, everyone knows the limitations of our football. Israel have fast players and a great coach (Luis Fernandez). In midfield, they ran so hard that they barely allowed Gareth (Sciberras) or myself touch the ball. It was clear that Israel did their homework well.

“My biggest regret is that, after going down 1-0 and getting back in the game, I thought we could have held out a little bit longer. Despite this upset, I still believe that at home, we can hurt Israel.”

Israel began strongly on Thursday, taking a seventh-minute lead through captain Yossi Benayoun.

Despite being trapped on the backfoot for most of the first half, Malta scored an equaliser out of the blue when seven minutes from half-time, Pace towered above friend and foe to head Roderick Briffa’s cross into the net.

Malta’s goal briefly unsettled Israel but the hosts re-asserted their authority and two second-half goals from Benayoun, the first from a penalty, gave them a deserved 3-1 victory.

As the team’s anchoring midfielder, Pace’s main task is to break down opponents’ attacks but he turned back the clock to the years when he was a speedy forward for Pietà Hotspurs by scoring the temporary equaliser.

“I was overjoyed,” Pace said of his goal, his third for the national team.

“It was not just because I scored but also because we got back into the game.

“The goal enabled us to go back to our gameplan. Normally, when we concede, we find it hard to come back but, on the positive side, in the last two matches we’ve shown an attitude that we can recover from a goal down.”

Heartened by the team’s response to falling behind early in the friendly against Macedonia and the qualifier against Israel, Pace is confident that Malta can achieve something in their next qualifiers.

“It’s a reachable objective, we can do it,” the Valletta midfielder claimed.

“We are believing more in ourselves and with the work the players and the staff are doing, I’m optimistic that in these qualifiers, we can reach some kind of targets.”

The attention of the Malta players now turns to Tuesday’s home qualifier against Latvia.

“The good thing is that these games come so quick,” Pace remarked.

“The result here (Israel) was not disastrous for us. Israel are a good side and they proved it.

“Latvia are also a good team. We should not make the mistake of underestimating them because the truth is we are not on a par with our opponents in international football, we’re always one or two steps behind.

“But, against Latvia, we will have home advantage. We will try to make it really hard for them in Malta, that’s what we are aiming to achieve.”

After Malta gained only one point in the World Cup qualifying campaign, the hope is that the team will finish their Euro 2012 trek with a better record. The 33-year-old Pace is positive about Malta’s chances but urged caution.

“I’m always confident but the reality is that it’s never easy for us,” Pace said.

“We tend to think ‘yes we can do it’ when we come up against certain teams but they look fitter and sharper because they train on a full-time basis every day.

“You always want to better yourself and this is our objective. If we continue to work and pull together as a team, I believe we can gain something from the upcoming qualifiers.”

Meanwhile, the Malta squad returned home yesterday afternoon. No serious injuries were reported and coach Buttigieg is not expected to call new players for the Latvia match.

However, those players who failed to make the 18-man squad for the Israel trip will be asked to resume training with their international team-mates ahead of Tuesday’s qualifier.