Malta women’s coach Tesse urges youth players to step up

Malta women’s coach Manuela Tesse has issued a rallying cry to the young players to step up and start taking responsibility if they want to keep the national team competitive in the near future.

The Italian tactician was pleased with how her team performed against 2023 World Cup participants Portugal in their second European qualifier, despite losing 2-0 with both goals coming after the change of ends.

However, the former Italy player is concerned with the national team’s future if the young players do not grow quickly and maintain this momentum.

“We had only three young players against Portugal, who played in the front three,” Tesse told the Times of Malta.

“If the other young players do not mature, the Malta women’s national team is finished. They need to work hard and make sacrifices for this team.”

One of the front three was Maria Farrugia, born in 2001, who sent shivers down Portugal’s spine when her right-footed effort went inches wide from their goal in the early stages of the game.

Malta’s first-half display drew plaudits from the record crowd that attended the match, having held a notable team like Portugal to a goalless draw.

“The first 45 minutes were perfect because we executed our plan to stay compact and attack through positive transitions,” Tesse said.

“We had two great chances and also had corner-kicks which we did not have in our latest friendly against Belarus.

“Unfortunately, though, Portugal switched up the tempo in the second half and their superiority came to the fore.”

Asked about what her team can learn from this game, Tesse echoed her post-Northern Ireland game thoughts as she wants her team to stay calm in possession.

“We are scared to play the ball sometimes and I know that we can do it because we managed to create chances with Portugal by playing quickly and vertically.”

Now that Malta have settled down in their League B debut, a crucial double-header awaits as they face bottom side Bosnia-Herzegovina in the upcoming window.

The Bosnia side ranked 63rd in the world, lost against Portugal and Northern Ireland in their opening two matches in the League B group.

With the top three teams qualifying for the Women’s Euro 2025 play-offs while staying up in Europe’s second tier, Malta will be eyeing valuable points against Bosnia, even though they are yet to record a single win against them.

“The two matches against Bosnia-Herzegovina will be very important for us,” Tesse pointed out.

“They are a very good team who is physically strong and we tend to find it difficult against teams with these features.

“On the other hand, though, we have plenty of time to prepare even though most probably we will have to do without our goalkeeper Janice Xuereb who has been a key player in the last year and a half.”