Malta FA must address the national team’s issues after Dutch debacle

Maltese football fans woke up on Wednesday discussing the debacle of the national team in Groningen when they crashed to a humiliating 8-0 defeat to the Netherlands in a World Cup qualifier.

It was a very flat performance from our players against the Euro 2024 semi-finalists, who punished them consistently throughout the 90 minutes and condemned the team to its heaviest defeat in international football since the capitulation to the same Dutch side in a Euro Championship qualifier at the National Stadium in 1990, to the same scoreline.

The defeat in Groningen left the team at the bottom of the standings with one point from four matches, having scored no goals and conceded 11.

While many are pointing their fingers at the team’s performance in Groningen, the problem of our national selection is way beyond the result against the Netherlands.

If one analyses the team’s performances during the June international window, it is a common occurrence that Malta fails to perform.

On more than one instance, the team ended up suffering battering defeats, and the main reason behind that is that the players arrive for these internationals after a long, draining season, and they have very little energy to contend with the demands of these matches.

A clear example happened 12 months ago, when the national team suffered a 7-1 defeat to the Czech Republic in a friendly played in Austria.

The Times of Malta tried to get a first-hand reaction from coach De Leo on the team’s performance as well as what, in his view, were the main areas of concern that were highlighted in these two matches, and what message he wants to send to the players after such a blunt display.

But unfortunately, for the second match in a row, we didn’t receive any response from the Malta coach and had to rely on his comments given to rights holder TVM Sport.

The Malta national teams’ head coach took full responsibility for the team’s disappointing result and said such experiences are part of the rebuilding process of the national team.

“It was a heavy defeat and we need to take our responsibility for it, irrespective of the strength of our opponents that we know well,” De Leo told TVMSport.

“Our performances need to go through these moments, our growth as a team needs to go through such difficult nights.

“We are disappointed, we didn’t cut a good figure, and everyone is gutted for such a performance. I take full responsibility for this performance, and the players too recognise their responsibilities. We are very, very sad that we couldn’t produce a better performance.

“For me, it’s important that we don’t forget tonight’s debacle because in the long run it could be a blessing for our growth, as it’s in these difficult situations that one can learn, mature, and show their resilience to try and improve. At the end of the day, this is an important process of development for our team.”

However, the most concerning factor for the national team is not so much the heavy defeat to the Netherlands, which can happen against such a football force, but the lack of progress the team showed in both matches played this month, particularly against Lithuania.

Against the former Soviet republic, the Maltese looked short of energy and ideas and looked a shadow of the team that showed so much attacking verve last March, particularly in the 1-0 defeat to Finland, and even the 2-0 loss in Poland.

De Leo was surely hampered by a group of players who, in their majority, are coming from a long a draining season following the sudden increase in matches in the new format of the 360 Sports Malta Premier.

The Italian tried to use all of his squad in these two matches, but still the lack of energy and mental fatigue was clear to see.

For me personally, the biggest concern that I see in the national team is the lack of young homegrown talent coming through our clubs and our over-reliance on players who are given a Maltese passport.

While I have no problem handing passports to players who have Maltese descent or qualify through their sporting merit, however, these cannot become mainstays in the team irrespective of their form and performances.

For these matches, De Leo relied on Teddy Teuma, who there is no doubt of his immense talent, but the midfielder has not played a match for his club Stade Reims for months after falling out of favour with his club owners, and his match sharpness was not ideal.

James Carragher and Gabriel Mentz struggled a lot against the Dutch while forward Jodi Jones failed to provide the attacking punch one expects from him.

The loss through the suspension of Ilyaf Chouaref was a major one for De Leo as the team lacked any kind of attacking verve, particularly against Lithuania, a team we should be capable of providing much more threat than one shot on target throughout the whole 90 minutes.

The biggest concern is that, at the moment, we don’t have any young homegrown forwards coming through our clubs, as all the teams in the Premier League are relying on foreign players.

Lack of proven goalscorer

The last effective Maltese-born goalscorer for Malta was Michael Mifsud. Since then, the team has struggled to score goals without a proven finisher, a key ingredient if we are to start winning matches against teams of more or less our level.

The MFA seems determined to maintain its stance to bring players of Maltese descent and rope them into the national team to provide a short-term fix.

But if they continue with this philosophy, they need to address this area of concern soon and not bring players in other areas who are more of the same level of homegrown players who already form part of the national team.

Next up for De Leo and his players is a trip to Lithuania on September 4, which will provide a great opportunity to restore some lost pride and hopefully pick up more points that will inject more belief in this project.

However, as De Leo said in his comments, it is crucial that the disappointing nights we experienced this month don’t go unnoticed, and that the people in charge of Maltese football recognise the real needs so that our movement continues to grow and doesn’t risk remaining stagnant, as has happened for several years.