Spirited Malta undone by Portugal in front of record crowd

MALTA              0

PORTUGAL       2
Costa 47 pen.
Capeta 78

MALTA

J. Xuereb (67 P. Ebejer); V. Rapa (61 A. Sultana), C. Zammit, S. Farrugia, A. Said, S. Zammit, R. Cuschieri, B. Borg, H. Bugeja (90 J. Flask), M. Farrugia, K. Willis (67 N. Sciberras).

PORTUGAL

I. Pereira; C. Amado (73 A. Capeta), L. Alves, A. Seica, A. Jacinto (84 A. Faria), A. Borges, J. Silva (90 C. Mendes), D. Silva (73 T. Pinto), C. Costa, D. Silva, K. Nazareth (84 J. Martins).

Referee: Katalina Sipos (Hungary FA).

Yellow cards: Cuschieri.

Two second-half goals were enough for Portugal to overcome a brave Malta side in the second Women’s Euro 2025 qualifier on Tuesday.

Buoyed by a record attendance for a women’s national team game of 1,026, Malta staged a remarkable display against a team that participated in last year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The Maltese selection, who are now third in the four-team League B group, will shift their attention to the double-header against Bosnia-Herzegovina in May and June.

Portugal are top of the group with six points from two matches while Northern Ireland are two points behind after they beat Bosnia Herzegovina 3-1 on Tuesday.

Malta are third in the group with one point while the Bosnians are bottom with no points to show.

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For this match, Malta women’s coach Manuela Tesse made two changes to her starting formation from last Friday’s draw against Northern Ireland in Belfast.

Captain Emma Lipman was out of the game after failing to recover from the injury she picked up against Northern Ireland. Birkirkara’s youngster Valentina Rapa replaced her just like she did in the Belfast game while Sampdoria midfielder Rachel Cuschieri captained the squad in Lipman’s absence.

Meanwhile, Italian coach Tesse made another change upfront as Kailey Willis led the attack alongside Haley Bugeja and Maria Farrugia.

For Willis, who is on the books of Serie C’s Venezia, this was her 10th cap for the national team.

Portugal, on their part, also made some changes to their starting formation including goalkeeper Ines Pereira who took over from Patricia Morais who featured in the Bosnia-Herzegovina victory.

Captaining the squad was Dolores Silva who plies her trade at Braga.

Former United States-based player Jessica Silva, now at Benfica and Diana Silva, who is on the books of Sporting, started upfront with highly-rated youngster Kika Nazareth behind them.

After Kika Nazareth failed to control a comfortable ball inside the small area which would have set her up alone in front of Janice Xuereb, Maria Farrugia almost made her pay with a low drive, with her effort going just wide of Ines Pereira’s goal.

Moments later, Portugal replied through Diana Silva but the Sporting forward’s effort was not enough to threaten Xuereb.

Benfica wingback Lucia Alves tried to capitalise on a Malta mistake at the back but could not find the target with her volley.

Kika Nazareth gave Malta a scare with a dangerous free-kick from the edge of the area but once again, Portugal could not open the score.

However, the Portuguese side started to muster more chances with Ana Seica sailing a close-range shot over the bar before Diana Silva produced a header that glanced past Xuereb’s goal.

They continued to bank on their shooting, however, even Real Sociedad’s Andreia Jacinto’s effort was not precise just before the half-hour mark.

Jacinto was involved again in the 37th minute, with a free-kick from a similar position to Nazareth’s previous one but just like her team mate, she could not beat Xuereb.

Before the break, Portugal missed another chance when Nazareth connected with Jacinto’s set-piece but failed to draw first blood.

Portugal could not have wished for a better start to the second half when they were awarded a penalty for an Ann-Marie Said handball inside the area.

Carole Costa took charge of the penalty which she converted with a low drive into the left post.

A few minutes later, Xuereb came to Malta’s rescue with a brilliant save on the line to deny Costa but it came at an expense after picking up a knee injury in the process.

Despite trying to resist the pain and resuming the match for a few minutes, Xuereb could not continue and was replaced by Mġarr United’s Patricia Ebejer, who had already replaced Raisa Costantino for this game.

Portugal made sure of their victory through substitute Ana Capeta who beat the offside and capitalised on a Jessica Silva cross.

Other results: Bosnia-Herzegovina vs Northern Ireland 1-3.