Malta’s participation in major international football tournaments is characterised by a lack of goals, few points, and no improvement. Kurt Sansone asks why Malta cannot find the net.

When Estonia face Ireland next month the small Baltic state will be 180 minutes away from making football history and qualifying for a major international tournament for the first time.

We have to do some serious soul searching- Psaila

Estonia finished second in the group to secure a two-leg play-off against Ireland, which will decide who plays in the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine next year.

The country of 1.3 million has come a long way in football since that day 18 years ago when it lost 1-0 to Malta in Tallinn.

Under the guidance of coach Pippo Psaila Malta had clinched its first ever win in the qualifying stages of the World Cup. It was May 1993 and Malta ended its group commitments in the 1994 World Cup qualifiers with four points, three of which were obtained against Estonia.

But time has passed, players have changed and the paths of both countries have never been so far apart as today.

In the Euro 2012 qualifiers, Malta finished bottom of Group F with a solitary point in complete contrast to Estonia’s fine run.

An analysis conducted by The Sunday Times shows that in the past four international tournaments – World Cup 2006 and 2010 and Euro 2008 and 2012 – Malta only obtained 10 points from 42 matches, scoring 18 goals and conceding 110.

The figures showed that Malta obtained an average of 0.2 points per match, scoring an average of 0.4 goals and conceding 2.6 goals per match.

The contrast with Estonia is glaring. In the same period the Baltic state obtained 48 points, scoring 45 goals and conceding 76.

It averaged 1.1 points per game and scored an average of one goal per match, conceding an average of 1.7 goals per match.

The figures showed that other minnow countries like Albania, Cyprus, Iceland and Liechtenstein performed better than Malta in the seven-year span covering the four major tournaments.

For Mr Psaila, Malta’s results signal a lack of progress. “Why do we have to accept something worse 18 years later?”

It is a pertinent question that supporters and football followers have asked and Mr Psaila believes the answer must not provide simplistic solutions that may have been experimented with in the past.

Foreign coaches, he said, were engaged in the past and more players today play football in foreign leagues but the results have not improved. Since Mr Psaila’s time as coach, Malta has had a host of foreign coaches before turning to John Buttigieg who was appointed in 2009.

The results have been, more or less, the same, with the best achievement being that of the Malta team coached by Czech Dusan Fitzel that managed five points in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.

According to Mr Psaila the country has to first admit there is a problem and then go on to analyse it “professionally”.

“It has to be a radical analysis that comes up with a holistic solution. We have to improve the quality of league football and the quality of coaching. We have to analyse club structures and see whether they are the right set-up to support a results-oriented culture.”

He said football was made up of technique, tactics, physical fitness and mental preparedness and the national team had to improve in all four departments to start “bridging the gap”.

Mr Psaila criticised the “stereotypical” tactics and the “bland rhythm” of the league, questioning whether coaches did enough to keep up with modern developments in the game.

The end of the Euro 2012 campaign coincided with the publication of the international football federation’s new rankings last week that saw Malta drop four places to 158. In contrast Estonia improved its Fifa ranking to 58 from 86.

Bridging the gap might not be an easy thing to do and it may very well have to mean greater investment in the game, according to research undertaken by Emren John Vella, who graduated from the University of Malta’s Islands and Small States Institute.

His research, ‘European Small States and Their Success in Football at International Level’, had concluded that there is a strong bond between a country’s international success and economic wealth.

“For international success a country needs to have the right facilities, a competitive league, and good-quality coaching, lucrative financial packages to attract players and entice fans. A wealthy system will among others boost the training of young players by engaging highly prominent coaches.”

Mr Vella said pouring more money in football could lure players to train on a full-time basis, which may be conducive to more commitment even at club level.

“A notable general statement is that it is better to have some full-time footballers instead of a group of part-time dilettantes,” he said. In small states like Malta, he added, only one or two teams in the domestic leagues were generally considered to be rich clubs and their presence often caused a sense of powerlessness in other clubs leading to a drop in motivation.

But Malta also has to contend with its population size, which Mr Vella described as a handicap because it limited choice and hindered success.

He acknowledged though there were notable exceptions to the rule, citing Cyprus and Estonia as test cases in their own right.

The statistical data about Malta makes for some grim football reading but the exceptions are cause for hope as is the performance of the U-21 national team that under the guidance of coach Ray Farrugia has already raked up five points from six qualifying matches. Mr Psaila believes Malta can improve like countries such as Latvia, Greece, Cyprus and Iceland, which Malta could easily beat in the past.

“I don’t believe we are destined to remain in this state but we have to do some serious soul searching and make the necessary changes.”

ksansone@timesofmalta.com