Last week’s adventure in Odense, Denmark, turned out to be very positive for the national team who competed in Group C of the Euro Championship first qualification round and placed a creditable second behind Russia and ahead of Portugal, Israel, Denmark and Bulgaria.
ASA president Joe Caruana Curran and coach Karl Izzo yesterday spoke about the team’s experiences during a meeting the ASA had with the media.
He expressed his satisfaction at the results obtained which he described as being “far from a co-incidence given our preparation and frame of mind. Apart from this, the trip was a success from the logistical point of view, with secretary Marco Manara and vice-president Alan Bonello being in the thick of it.”
Results underlined the country’s healthy status in terms of European rankings despite being the smallest team in the competition.
“The ASA decisions including the appoint-ment of both coaches turned out to be the right ones,” Caruana Curran said.
“We participated with honour and one should be proud of being Maltese. Against the giants of Russia, we scored more than the other teams and conceded the fewest number of goals.”
Guided by Izzo and propelled by the scoring instincs of Steve Camilleri, the national team showed commendable skill and character to reap deserved reward. The springtime test was passed, with the units showing great motivation and fighting qualities.
Izzo told The Times: “I am very proud of the boys. They only had a couple of Winter League matches behind them while other countries were at their peak. This is a good omen for our next qualifying matches in July. We should be in better shape then as we would be in the second round of the summer league.”
He had special words for Camilleri who opted to play for Malta and missed his Bogliasco match after obtaining their permission.
“I was pleasantly surprised how the players managed to find the energy in the matches against Denmark and Israel to come from behind and thus finish second in the table.
“All teams were stronger than what they were in the past, with the exception of Bulgaria,” Izzo added.
“Our preparation was very intensive but I had co-operation from all clubs. The friendly matches against Ortigia were very useful as was the training camp we had there.
“It should be noted that we had two important players missing from our squad, John Soler and Jerome Gabarretta. But I was pleased with the commitment of Dino Zammit and Peter Borg who replaced them.
“Niki Lanzon, together with Steve Camilleri and Matthew Zammit were the outstanding performers. We must not forget that the average age of the team is 24/25.”
Referring to the game against Russia, who had just beaten world champions Italy, Izzo said that Malta played almost at a par with for two sessions, scoring eight and conceding ten goals.
“It was difficult against Denmark since we had a tough outing against Russia five hours before, but we recovered, winning the last session 5-2 to edge them by one goal.”
Pointing out the lows of the tournament, Izzo did not hesitate in mentioning the poor standard of refereeing, citing the match against Israel.
“Otherwise the results obtained were due to excellent team bonding which showed mainly in difficult moments,” he contended.
The ASA now eyes the next qualifying rounds in July and November, with a possibility of playing hosts in these group matches.
The last round could be preceded, circumstances permitting, by a friendly international tournament in late September or early October which may also comprise a top nation.