Malta coach John Buttigieg was pleased with the effort and performance of his players in the 2-1 victory over the Central African Republic in Wednesday’s friendly international at Ta’ Qali’s National Stadium.

“A victory is always a positive result,” Buttigieg told The Times.

“I believe we deserved to win for the effort and performance put in by the players. Physically, we got tired after an hour but the players clearly gave their all.

“The problem was that the team’s rhythm dropped but that was to be expected because the national squad had fewer training sessions this summer.”

Wednesday’s friendly was part of Malta’s preparations for their remaining four Euro 2012 Group F qualifiers, starting with next month’s visit of Croatia.

The warm-up lacked glamour as Central African Republic are one of the least popular footballing nations in the world but Buttigieg had no qualms about the useful-ness of Wednesday’s test.

“African teams have made great advances in recent years,” he said.

“Central African Republic are ranked better than Malta but then, as I said during the pre-match news conference, I don’t pay too much attention to the FIFA rankings.

“They (Central African Republic) play against different teams compared to the nations we face in Europe.

“Central African Republic’s level is similar to ours. They tried to play good football and the game was quite interesting. They can’t be likened to a European team but it’s difficult for us to choose better opponents for friendly games.

“What is important is that all the national teams play as many inter-national games as possible.”

Buttigieg made five substitutions in the second half but he confirmed that all the players came through unscathed.

Malta’s 2-1 win over Les Fauves (The Wild Beasts) was the second positive result in a friendly match this year following the goalless draw against Switzerland in February but in the Euro 2012 qualifiers, our national team are still without a point after six games.

Sometimes it is said that friendly matches lack the intensity of com-petitive games but coach Buttigieg begs to differ.

“All games are tough,” he said.

“In qualifiers, the teams are playing for points but for me, the level of difficulty in such friendlies and competitive matches is the same.

“Maybe our problem is a mental one. We were very close to gaining a positive result in some qualifiers only to concede a late goal (Malta suffered last-gasp 1-0 defeats away to Georgia and at home to Greece).

“Even in the last two minutes of this friendly, we started to give away possession and our opponents had some chances. But, despite the lack of positive results, the players always do their best.”

Of the remaining four Euro 2012 qualifiers, three – against Croatia, Georgia and Israel – are home games. Although Malta have yet to open their account in Group F, Buttigieg is hopeful that the team will gain some points before the end of the campaign.

“I believe we can,” Buttigieg said about Malta’s prospects of breaking their duck.

“Football can be harsh... you can play well and still lose. We were very near to taking something from cer-tain games but we didn’t.

“Our aim is to win some points and, on our day, with a bit of luck and a good performance from the team, we can achieve that.”

While experienced striker Michael Mifsud underlined his abiding importance to the national side with a brace that took his tally to a record 28 goals, Christian Caruana made his bow for Malta as a second-half substitute for Andrè Schembri.

Despite his undoubted technical ability, Caruana, 24, has often been written off as being “too lightweight” to play international football but his inclusion on Wednesday suggests that Buttigieg is prepared to give the Floriana forward a chance to show his worth.

His lively performance ought to have bolstered his claim for more opportunities as a first-squad regular.

Buttigieg liked what he saw.

“He did well,” he said.

“Technically, he’s brilliant , very strong, but physically he has more work to do. But, I thought he played really well when he came on, like the rest of his team-mates.”