Pietro Ghedin has only been in charge of the national team for one month but even in such a short period of time, the Italian tactician has clearly had a galvanising effect on his players.

Although any judgment on Ghedin’s work would be ridiculously premature, given that Malta have only played one match under his tutelage, the initial signs are encouraging as the team produced a lively performance in their friendly against Luxembourg, winning 2-0 courtesy of a brace from captain Michael Mifsud.

Not since 1993 had Malta tasted success in an away friendly, a 2-1 win over Gabon at a tournament in Tunisia, but on Saturday, Ghedin’s men bucked the trend in the most convincing style, showing a refreshingly confident and attacking mindset as they took the game to Luxembourg from the outset.

Mifsud inevitably captured the headlines as his two opportunistic strikes launched Ghedin’s second spell on a high note but it was the team’s unstinting efforts to play constructive, fluid football that really heightened optimism of a rosier future for our national team.

Ghedin himself admitted that Malta’s performance at the Stade Josy Barthel exceeded his expectations.

“We are all happy,” Ghedin told The Times.

“The performance was better than I expected. More than the result, I was pleased with the showing. The team applied a positive approach.

“The players were not afraid to pass the ball and go forward, they wanted to play football. The victory was the cherry on the cake.”

Saturday’s victory was Malta’s first in five meetings with Luxembourg and followed up a 2-1 win over Liechtenstein in a home friendly last February.

The emphatic manner of the victory will also have strengthened the Malta players’ self-belief at the start of their build-up for what promises to be a taxing 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, what with the presence of three Euro 2012 finalists, Italy, Denmark and the Czech Republic, in our group.

Ghedin is aware that sterner tests lie ahead for Malta but believes that the team is heading in the right direction.

“I agree that we have to be cautious and wait to see how we perform in the coming tests,” Ghedin said.

“I’m pleased with our work so far but we have to do more. I believe we’re on the right track. We will now have a rest before resuming our preparations for the World Cup qualifiers.”

Luxembourg are also among the lesser lights of Euro football but they are currently ranked 31 places above Malta.

After falling behind to Mifsud’s 10th-minute opener, the Luxembourg players looked tense with captain Mario Mutsch getting a red card on the stroke of half-time after earning cautions for two needless fouls.

Ghedin suggested that Luxembourg struggled to come to terms with their defeat to Malta.

“Luxembourg were coming from a string of commendable results,” Ghedin said.

“They were very tenacious during the game and their captain was sent off late in the first half.

“They couldn’t take it (defeat) because they thought Malta were a poor side but we surprised them.”

While expressing his satisfaction at Mifsud’s two-goal performance, Ghedin has backed the 31-year-old Valletta striker to break more records.

“Michael Mifsud.... what can I say?” Ghedin said. “He has scored another two goals and he now has a total of 34 for the national team.

“That’s no mean feat as it’s very difficult to score that amount of goals for Malta.

“And Mifsud still has a lot to offer. I believe he can continue to play at this level for many more years and set more records for the national team.”

The affluence of ‘ball players’ in Malta’s line-up on Saturday, the likes of Mifsud, Daniel Bogdanovic, Andrè Schembri, Andrew Cohen and Roderick Briffa, was indicative of Ghedin’s attack-minded philosophy.

And the Italian stressed that he will always encourage his team to play good football, regardless of the strength of the opposition.

“We will always try to play football the right way, try to build good moves even when we’ll face big teams,” Ghedin said.

It’s a mark of Ghedin’s willingness to keep track of not only the form of the country’s established players but also the emerging talents that he, together with Malta FA CEO Bjorn Vassallo and technical director Robert Gatt, flew out to Sweden yesterday to watch the Malta U-21s’ European Championship qualifier against the Swedes on Wednesday.

The Malta squad, led by team manager Ivan Vella, returned early yesterday afternoon.

Birkirkara midfielder Gareth Sciberras is expected to undergo surgery today after fracturing his left thumb in the first half of Saturday’s friendly while Alex Muscat, Andrei Agius and Andrew Cohen are carrying knocks.

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