sport

Thank you Malta – thank you Held

German connection working wonders

The chants from the Malta fans of "Thank you, thank you very much" were something of a reprieve, something which we have been waiting to hear for ages. Yes, the Malta football side did our country proud. We haven’t won the World Cup; we won a tournament in which small teams like Jordan, Lithuania and Moldova participated. But these teams stand above us in the FIFA rankings.

Remember when Malta lost to the Faroe Islands and Luxembourg? So at least we can say that we have started beating teams our own size or even a bit better. Thanks to new German coach Sigi Held the Maltese look more disciplined and contrary to what was happening during the Ilic days, there seems to be a plan in place now.

With the collaboration of Director Horst Heese, the MFA did the right thing in bringing a German mentality to our shores. But as Held said, we have to keep our feet on the ground to enable us to also build for the future.

The German connection is certainly working wonders. Not only has Held improved the side tactically and discipline-wise, but Michael Mifsud, who this season joined Kaiserslautern from Sliema, has become a phenomenal striker. He was already a star when he was with Sliema but he has really improved in Germany. Whenever he gets control of the ball, it definitely spells trouble for his opponents. He shows signs of becoming a carbon copy of Michael Owen, although at 19 we surely haven’t seen the best of him yet.

Having beaten Moldova 3-0, Malta on Wednesday repeated their achievement of 1992 by becoming the winner of 11th edition of Rothmans Cup. The hero of Wednesday’s match was George Mallia who scored in each half. First he headed home after an Antoine Zahra pass from the corner. And then George Mallia finished a brilliant combination with Michael Mifsud and Joe Brincat’s participation. Mifsud scored the third in the last minute. Both teams finished the match in incomplete squads: Luke Dimech for Malta and Victor Barisev for the Moldavians were sent off two minutes from time.

Let’s hope this victory marks the beginning of a new era for Maltese football.

Unfortunately, David Carabott got injured late in the match. We wish him well.