Malta 4
Scicluna 2, Camenzuli 19; Camilleri 48, Falzon 75;
Liechtenstein 1
Duelli 78;
Malta U-21 lifted their confidence levels ahead of their final Euro Championship qualifier by several notches yesterday when they registered an impressive 4-1 win against Liechtenstein in a friendly match at Corradino.
Ray Farrugia’s boys seized the opportunity to underline their progress as they outclassed their opponents in a surprisingly one-sided match.
It was one of those matches where everything went right for our team but one should not lose sight of the fact that this was a friendly and the opponents were not of the highest order.
Surely, the qualifier away at Ukraine on September 6 will be a different kettle of fish. On the other hand, however, it would be unfair if one had to detract from the merits of the Maltese side.
Farrugia deployed an enterprising formation as he stuck with a 4-5-1 cum 4-3-3 module.
Terence Vella led the forward line with Ryan Scicluna and newcomer Ryan Camenzuli providing support from the wings.
And the Maltese youths followed their coach’s instructions to the book, concentration and wise use of possession from the word ‘go’.
The game had barely started when Scicluna pounced on a loose ball just outside Liechtenstein’s box and unleashed a fierce drive into the net.
That goal set the tone as the Maltese ran with far greater purpose than their opponents. Matthew Gauci’s delivery from the left found no takers as his effort crossed the face of goal before being cleared by Mathias Bele.
Camenzuli marked his international debut with an astonishing goal on 19 minutes.
The Birkirkara winger switched flanks with Scicluna as he moved with the ball towards the right, swivelled around his marker before a left-footed lob into the net.
Mark Scerri dragged his effort just wide before half-time with only Dario Calliori to beat as Farrugia effected a triple substitution at the interval. Fernando Apap, Daniel Balzan and Jurgen Pisani came on for Luca Martinelli, Steve Sultana and Matthew Gauci respectively.
Despite the changes, things got even better for the hosts soon after the restart as the boys in red scored a third goal. Camenzuli swung in an inviting free-kick from the right and Yessous Camilleri headed firmly past Calliori.
On the hour, Vella’s inswinger hit the side-netting and such was Malta’s superiority that Balzan only made his first intervention on 70 minutes when Thomas Eggenbergers’s cross created some panic in-side the box but the goalkeeper fisted away the danger.
There was no let-up from Malta as they made it 4-0 with 15 minutes to go. Scerri slid a perfect throughball into the path of substitute Darren Falzon who sneaked ahead of a Liechtenstein opponent before beating the keeper.
Three minutes later, the visitors finally had something to smile about when Christoph Duelli’s effort sailed over Balzan for the visitors to score a consolation goal.
Malta
S. Sultana (D. Balzan 46), R. Camenzuli, L. Martinelli (F. Apap 46), Z. Muscat, R. Muscat (S. Pisani 68), R. Scicluna (L. Micallef 73), M. Scerri, T. Vella (D. Falzon 60), B. Kristensen, Y. Camilleri, M. Gauci (J. Pisani 46).
Liechtenstein
D. Calliori, F. Eberle, M. Bele, O. Gur, V. Flatz, P. Ospelt, S. Wolfinger, C. Duelli (S. Zahn), T. Unlu (D. Kaiser 76), N. Kieber, T. Eggenberger (N. Kollmann).
Referee: Nikola Popov (Bulgaria).