Tuesday’s victory was Malta’s first in four meetings with Faroe Islands and followed a string of wins against fellow small nations.
Victories in friendlies over teams certain to finish bottom of any qualification group cannot be considered a real coup for Pietro Ghedin but the aim was to achieve higher confidence levels inside the national team squad.
“We’ve finished 2013 on a high note and we’ve gone a long way towards erasing the painful memories of our 6-0 rout against Denmark as a heavy defeat like that stays in one’s mind for a long time,” the Malta coach explained.
He refuted claims that the victory over Faroe Islands was the swansong of a crop of experienced players aged 30 or over.
“This is not the end of an era. This Malta team has a solid foundation to build on.
“The experienced ones will not be overlooked. But, it is my intention to go round different venues and scout for undiscovered talents,” Ghedin added.
If the senior squad ended their 2013 commitments on a positive note, the U-21s are going through a torrid patch as Tuesday’s 5-0 away defeat to Sweden left them bottom of Group Seven with no points from six games.
Asked about the performances of the U-21s, Ghedin was quick to defend Ray Farrugia’s team.
“These latest results are down to bad luck, every shot against us ended up in the back of our net.
“I think we have a good set-up and the future is not that bleak,” Ghedin pointed out.
Faroe Islands find themselves in a similar position as they are trying to rejuvenate the team and introduce younger players.
“Against Malta, we had a completely new squad as I introduced two 19-year-olds and the average age in our team went down to 22,” Lars Olsen, the Faroe Islands coach, told reporters.
Malta and Faroe Islands do share notable similarities in football.
Both finished bottom of their qualification group and rank low in the FIFA rankings – Malta (140) opposed to Faroe Islands (175).
In the last qualifying campaign, Faroe Islands obtained just one point, following a draw against Ireland, but on home soil they proved to be a hard nut to crack.
“Against Sweden, we suffered a narrow defeat and did not deserve to lose,” Olsen said.
“All the other results at home, except for the Germany match, were regarded as acceptable.
“Something similar happened to Malta in their group, I’m told.”
Further examples of the footballing similarities between the two nations abound... both FAs developed a similar blueprint for the game in their respective countries, based on artificial grass pitches and the push to export their talents overseas to improve the level of the national team.
Although Faroe Islands (like Malta) look up at the example set by Iceland, who narrowly missed out on becoming the smallest country to ever qualify for the World Cup, Olsen admitted that the Icelandic model cannot be replicated that easily.
He pointed out that the cold climate and the small population of Iceland and Faroe Islands are common denominators but, at present, that is where similarities end.
Football shocks
The Faroe Islands coach is a man who knows what it takes to spring a football shock.
Twenty-one years ago, Olsen was the skipper of the Danish national team who were given just over a week’s notice to get a squad prepared for Euro 1992.
Less than a month later, the stocky defender was in Gothenburg, lifting the coveted Henri Delaunay Trophy after a fairytale tournament.
“We had a fantastic spirit. The team wanted to win and that spirit helped us but we had players all over Europe,” he said.
“Part of Iceland’s confidence stems from the fact that the country has a number of professionals playing abroad, including some for top teams in Europe’s biggest leagues,” Olsen, who figured for Trabzonspor and Basel in his playing career, said.
“The Faroe Islands are not at that level. Our aim is to help the crop of homegrown talent to play in neighbouring countries such as Denmark and Norway.
“That way they can improve their skills in leagues ranked among the top in Europe.”