Manuela Tesse has called on her team to play more collectively as the Malta women’s national team will rub shoulders with Bosnia-Herzegovina, on Tuesday afternoon (kick-off: 4pm).
A late Milena Nikolic’s header broke Malta’s hearts in last Friday’s match at the Centenary Stadium, leaving the Maltese side bottom of their League B group with just a single point.
After three outings in Europe’s second-tier, Malta is still looking for their first win and Tesse was frustrated for not having found the net against the Bosnian selection.
“What was missing from this match was this goal, because we did create some important scoring opportunities to find the net,” Tesse told the Times of Malta.
“There were instances when Maria Farrugia could have played the ball to Kailey Willis, and the other way round as well.
“Moreover, we did produce a brilliant corner-kick scheme which Farrugia should have capitalised on immediately, rather than trying to beat her opponent inside the box.”
Tesse did not like how her team conducted the positive transitions which could have easily been converted into goals, especially in the second 45 minutes when Bosnia were starting to inch their way up the field, leaving just their two central defenders exposed and with plenty of area to cover.
“Those are the situations that we must take advantage of so that we kill the game,” Tesse emphasised.
In the home game against Bosnia, Malta did enjoy a bright start where after settling down, they started to probe their opponents’ backline.
“I liked how we started the opening 25 minutes of the match, where we created some chances and had four corners in favour too,” Tesse explained.
“However, if you want to score, you need to shoot and not trying to head straight into goal with the ball in your feet.
“Moreover, we need to play more as a team in the final third and not play as individuals as this will hinder our chances of scoring.”
Physicality was a notable difference between the two sides at the Centenary Stadium.
Bosnia’s squad is composed of several towering players including scorer Nikolic, 1.84m, which was being a constant danger upfront.
Tesse highlighted this difference, explaining how this discrepancy makes it difficult for them in aerial contrasts as they are naturally shorter.
On the other hand, though, the Italian coach said that Malta can make up for this disadvantage by taking care of possession as she believes her side is a better technical team than Bosnia.
Malta’s match against Bosnia-Herzegovina will be officiated by Armenia’s referee Sofik Torosyan.
In the other match from this group, Northern Ireland will host leaders Portugal who are on the brink of securing League A promotion.
PLAYING ON TUESDAY
Bosnia-Herzegovina vs Malta – 16.00
Northern Ireland vs Portugal – 20.00
