Moldova win puts interim coach Mazzotta on pole for permanent Malta job

Davide Mazzotta may have put himself in prime position to be installed as permanent senior national teams head coach after masterminding the team’s impressive performance in Sunday’s 1-0 win over Moldova in the UEFA Nations League on Sunday.

In his first appearance as interim national team head coach just a few days after replacing Michele Marcolini, Mazzotta watched his players put on a sound performance and a clinch a crucial victory against Moldova, arguably the strongest side of the League D section.

Sunday’s victory was not only a major boost for the national team’s aspirations of winning promotion in the UEFA Nations League but also for Mazzotta’s chances of being installed as the permanent coach of the Malta national team.

Prior to Mazzotta’s arrival as interim Malta coach, the atmosphere surrounding the national team was far from ideal.

Last month’s defeat against Moldova in Chisinau, after a very opaque performance, had inevitably hit hard the atmosphere among the players and the technical set-up.

There was desperate need of bringing in someone who was capable to lift the team’s spirits and help the players rediscover the joy of playing for the national team, something that seemed to have waned in recent months.

Maybe it’s still early to make conclusive judgments but the Mazzotta effect has certainly worked wonders on Sunday as we witnessed a national team who played with pride and passion and who were desperate to resurrect their UEFA Nations League campaign with a convincing display.

The Malta FA will likely decide whether Mazzotta is the right man for the job after the November internationals, which will see the national team face Liechtenstein in a friendly manner before wrapping up their Nations League commitments when hosting Andorra on November 16.

Obviously, should the national team show once more the same verve and passion displayed against Moldova, it is likely to persuade the local governing body to hand the job to Mazzotta.

One small hiccup might be that Mazzotta does not hold a UEFA Pro Licence but that hurdle can be easily surpassed if the Italian is given the opportunity to apply for the course, so it’s unlikely to stop the MFA from installing him as the permanent coach.

Mazzotta believes that the MFA will take a more holistic analysis of the work he and his team has carried out in the next month or so than rather just base themselves on the results he attains.

“It’s still early to say what the MFA will decide. But I don’t think that the MFA will just make a decision on whether to offer me the job just on the results the team achieves,” Mazzotta said.

“I think they will analyse all the work we carry out, the mentality we have instilled in the players as well as the methodology and our football philosophy.

“So, I believe the decision will also be based on the human aspect on how the players feel working with us. The Malta FA has a list of values that it believes in and will make sure that we are capable of fulfilling these values.”

One thing certain is that Sunday’s win over Moldova have kept alives Malta’s hopes of promotion, be it automatic through topping the group or via a promotion play-off against one of the two best-ranked sides that finished bottom of League C.

Mazzotta admitted Malta’s fate is beyond their hands as they will now await the result of Moldova’s final fixture in Andorra on November 13 to see if they can still finish top of the group.

But whatever happens he promised that the team will go with all guns blazing to end the campaign on a high against Andorra.

“It’s difficult to give a probability percentage of our chances to win promotion as we need to wait the result of the upcoming match between Andorra and Moldova,” Mazzotta said.

“Should the match against Andorra gives us a chance to finish top, rest assured that we will give everything we have to reach our objective.

“If not we are still going to approach the match against Andorra with full concentration to try and get the best possible result and end the campaign with a victory that all our fans deserve.”