Courtesy:-> Malta Football


FIFA Futsal tournament

Narrow defeat for Malta

Showing good improvement in technical skills and the high-tempo passing game, Malta went down 2-1 to Greece, a team ranked much higher in the European and World Futsal standings.

Although the Greeks had an edge in rotational movement, they could not find a way past a well-drilled Maltese defence and when they had a pot at goal they found goalkeeper Bjorn Vassallo in inspiring form.

After both sides had efforts against the goal frame, Thomas Panou gave the visitors the lead 13 minutes into the opening period following a fine move. A set-piece enabled Greece to make it 2-0 through Morfesis Panagiotis almost two minutes after the restart.

But Michael Stritz’s team kept up their passing tempo to put pressure on their opponents for most of the second half. With almost four minutes to go Nebiosa Mijailovic planted the ball into the roof of the net after a well-engineered set- piece. The crowd went wild with the delight and that ignited our team to a last-ditch effort to save the game. However, the Greeks held out for a close victory.

This result showed that our status in Futsal has gone up significantly since we made our debut on the international stage early last year.

In the first match Slovenia beat Albania 2-0 through goals netted by Milivoje Simeunovic and Benjamin Melink.

On Friday, Malta takes on Albania, kick-off at 18:00. In another match, Greece face Slovenia, kick-off at 20:00.

The final two matches will be played on Sunday: Albania vs Greece at 18:00 and Slovenia vs Malta at 20:00.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, MFA vice-president Ludovico Micallef said this will be a difficult task for the Maltese side, considering that countries like Slovenia and Greece are ranked highly.

Slovenia are in fact one of the strongest countries in Europe and reached the final stages of the UEFA Futsal Championship in 2003. As part of their preparation for this qualifying tournament, they played two friendlies against Brazil, losing 3-6 and 1-3 in front of thousands of spectators.

Assistant coach Mark Marlow said Malta will be aiming for its first positive result in an international game as Albania are considered to be more or less on the same level as Malta.

Marlow said the players have been working hard and showed considerable improvement over the past eighteen months. He appealed for full support by the public as this was necessary for the team to do better.

Captain Mark Ellul Sullivan agreed that these will be difficult matches but said the players are looking forward to giving their best in the three matches.

Missing from the squad for Malta will be Niki Bilocca together with Jonathan Sammut and Sandro Hili. The thirteen players selected by Michal Striz are therefore:

Goalkeepers
Benny Gialanze (El Mundos)
Bjorn Vassallo (Aluserv)

Field Players
Tyron Borg (Zurrieq)
Noel Bray (Southenders)
Paul Bugeja (Kerygma)
James Ciangura (Scandals Bar)
John Cutajar (Scandals Bar)
Timothy Ellis (Powerade)
Jeanbert Gatt (Scandals Bar)
Robert Magro (Naxxar Motors)
Roberto Micallef (Powerade)
Nebjosa Mijailovic (European Pilot Academy)
Mark Ellul Sullivan (Amazon)

This will be the second adventure for the team led by Michael Striz in international competitions after taking part in the UEFA Futsal Championship in January. Malta had lost 7-1 to Cyprus, 13-0 to Kazakhstan and 5-2 to Georgia in a mini-tournament which was held at the Corradino Pavilion.

Since then Malta played three international friendly matches last October. Malta lost 0-3 to Moldova at the Hibs Pavilion and then suffered two 11-0 defeats to the Czech Republic away from home.

These two matches against the Czech Republic - one of the strongest sides in Europe, were good tests for the Maltese team, especially in view of the game against Slovenia, according to assistant coach Mark Marlow.

MFA vice-president Ludovico Micallef revealed that the association will be working harder to promote futsal and is planning to organise futsal tournaments for nurseries as from this summer. It is planned that children attending nurseries and failing to make the grade in football are lured to futsal.

Entrance to the AS Hibernians Sports Pavilion is free.





Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com