Malta will be looking to atone for their error-strewn display in last week’s 6-0 defeat to the Czech Republic when they meet Austria in another friendly match this evening at Klagenfurt’s Worther-see Stadium (kick-off: 8.30pm).
Like the Czech Republic, Austria will be ultra-motivated to secure a morale-boosting result ahead of their Euro 2016 Group F opener against Hungary on June 14, meaning that another gruelling test beckons the Maltese team in front of a passionate crowd as reports suggest that 30,000 match tickets have been sold.
Thus, Malta will be on a damage-limitation mission tonight but coach Pietro Ghedin is confident that his players can give a better account of themselves than they did against the Czechs if they cut out the costly mistakes that marred their performance in Kufstein on Friday.
“Our aim is to make up for the heavy defeat we suffered against the Czech Republic,” Ghedin told Times of Malta from Austria.
“Six goals are a lot but, honestly, I’m cautiously optimistic that we can play a lot better against Austria tomorrow (today).
“In the Czech Republic game, we did some good things but committed a series of glaring mistakes which proved costly.
“In the last 16 minutes, we conceded three goals.
“It’s clear that we need to work on certain aspects of our game but it’s equally important that our players learn from their mistakes.”
Malta’s drubbing against the Czechs, who are in Group D of Euro 2016 along with Croatia, Spain and Turkey, has rekindled criticism of the timing of such friendlies for our national team amid suggestions that the players may be fatigued and low on motivation levels after a long and tiring domestic campaign.
Notable absentees
The withdrawal of a host of players, the likes of Jonathan Caruana, Steve Borg and Joseph Zerafa, who are recovering from injuries, and Andrè Schembri, who is getting married soon, has clearly not helped Ghedin’s cause.
While acknowledging that end-of-season friendlies pose added difficulties, Ghedin insisted that the positives outweigh the negatives.
“We have been together for nine days now,” Ghedin said.
“We had players who had two weeks of holidays and others who joined us later because of their involvement in the FA Trophy.
“But, I have to stress that this training camp and friendlies are very useful for our preparations for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
“I don’t have any complaints.
“In fact, I prefer to play friendly games against top nations like the Czech Republic and Austria. It’s better for our team to face strong opposition.”
Ghedin is unlikely to make drastic changes from the Czech Republic game but midfielder Paul Fenech, a second-half substitute on Friday, is out of the equation after taking a bad knock to his foot that required stitches.
“We will see,” Ghedin, who handed Luke Gambin and Cain Attard their international debut in the Czech warm-up, said.
“Some players are tired while others are not in their best condition after ending the champion-ship on a somewhat negative note.
“We could make some changes but these will be dictated by the form and the fitness of the players we have at our disposal here at the moment.”
Austria are limbering up for Euro 2016 with high optimism after impressing in qualifying.
Led by Marcel Koller, Austria were unbeaten in Group G, winning nine and drawing only one of their 10 qualifiers, to finish eight points ahead of Russia.
In France, they will face Portugal, Hungary and Iceland in Group F.
“They have a very strong and balanced squad,” Ghedin said of Malta’s impending opponents.
“We analysed their performance in the friendly win over Albania (in March) and then showed some important bits from that game to our players.
“We know we’re facing a good team who are also high on motivation ahead of their participation in the European Championship.”