Italy coach Cesare Prandelli said this evening that he was not surprised by Malta's performance in the match against Italy, which ended with a 2-0 victory for the hosts.

The Maltese players were well deployed, particularly eight in the defence who kept their positions well, he said. He also noted that Andre Schembri had systematically marked Andrea Prilo, forcing Italy to free up central defender Bonucci to dictate play forward in the second half.

As for Italy, Prandelli said that right now the team was not playing amazingly well. "We know that historically September is a particularly difficult month." 

"We have to rediscover that certainty that we had before, the play, the cutting edge, the enthusiasm, and in the second half we saw a much better-drilled team."

HAPPY GHEDIN

Malta Coach Pietro Ghedin said he was very happy with the Malta team's performance. The players had been disciplined and kept their positions, he said.

"The fact that Italy had only two direct shots at goal shows that we really made it difficult for them."

When told at a press conference that he really deserved the credit, Ghedin said the credit should go to the players. Malta had progressed over the years and gone were the days when it conceded a lot of goals, he said.

See match report at http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120911/sport/malta-line-up-announced.436537