Malta striker Michael Mifsud tries to force his way through against the Czech Republic. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Pietro Ghedin described Malta’s showing in Friday’s 4-1 defeat to the Czech Republic as their ‘worst’ in this World Cup qualifying campaign, his dissatisfaction fuelled by the team’s error-strewn performance in the first half.

“The first half was the worst for us in this qualifying group,” the Malta coach said.

Going over the reasons that led to Malta being outclassed by the Czechs, Ghedin was unequivocal in his criticism of what he perceived as a soft and casual approach by his players.

After the modest heights attained by the national team in the previous two home matches against Denmark and Bulgaria, it looked as though the team’s progress hit a wall on Friday.

Ghedin offered a number of reasons for this decline.

“Our opponents were upset following their defeat against Italy and took the field determined to put on a great performance,” he explained.

Malta’s uphill task became steeper from the moment Tomas Hubschmann put the visitors ahead after just three minutes.

“We gave away an early goal and that was a huge blow for us,” Ghedin said.

“Our first half was full of errors as we conceded a second incredible goal but, at least we managed to improve after the break.

“Our team started to play better and we got back into the game after pulling a goal back through Michael Mifsud.”

At the start of the second half, Malta looked as if they could contain the Czechs’ pressure but that impression only lasted a few minutes as Vaclav Kadlec took advantage of more defensive mistakes to restore the visitors’ two-goal cushion.

“They only had four shots on target all game, but all of them ended up in the back of our net. We conceded awful goals,” the Italian mentor lamented.

Despite his disappointment at Malta’s inept showing, Ghedin was reluctant to come down heavily on his players but admitted that individual mistakes, especially those committed by the defence in the first three goals, had shattered the team’s morale.

Malta also seemed to miss Gareth Sciberras’s industry in midfield while Andrè Schembri, who is a mainstay in Ghedin’s starting XI, was also absent.

“Gareth Sciberras is the only Maltese player who presses his opponents relentlessly, his ball-winning is simply unmatched. Schembri is also a very important player for this squad,” he added.

“Having said that, Rowen Muscat is one of the few Maltese players who have performed at a high level against the Czechs.

“He worked hard, dropped back to help in defence, beyond doubt our best player on the pitch. I am really pleased with this young man’s progress at this level.

“I thought Andrew Cohen was our best option in attack to replace Schembri because of his speed and movement. I put him wide on the left. He had a good match but pity that his effort on goal finished agonisingly wide,” the Italian coach remarked.

Ghedin believes that in these circumstances, the responsibility of motivating oneself for the Denmark test on Tuesday lies with the players.

“We have a duty to motivate ourselves to do much better on Tuesday because we should be proud to don the Maltese shirt. We want to end these qualifiers on a positive note,”he said.

Pesice pleased

Interim Czech Republic coach Josef Pesice was delighted with his team’s performance following the comfortable victory over Malta.

“We were in total control from start to finish and apart from the lapse in concentration during Malta’s goal, we ably neutralised their attacking threat,” Pesice said.

“It certainly was surprising for us that we won easily against Malta. I thought they would offer tougher resistance, going by the way they played here against Italy, Denmark and Bulgaria.

“That early first goal must have put them off their game.”

A combination of results – Bulgaria’s loss against Armenia and Italy’s last-gasp draw against Denmark have suddenly put the Czechs back into contention for the play-offs.

Pesice’s side, on 12 points, travel to Bulgaria (on 13 points) as Denmark (13) host Malta while Armenia (12) play Italy.

Pesice is under no illusion about his nation’s chances to qualify for the play-offs.

“Our chances (to qualify) are still very slim but the important thing today was the performance,” he added.