We have been rewarded with a loss but we played with pride - Pietro Ghedin

Exactly after the Malta vs Italy match, Pietro Ghedin answered questions by the local and foreign press. The Italian coach showed satisfaction in the way his players faced this game against football world giants Italy and pointed out the fact that Mifsud's red card changed a lot from the original tactical plan in the pitch.   "Our objective was to come off the pitch to the applause of our supporters. And we did achieve just that. It is clear that whenever Italy wanted to push us we were constrained in our own half and they also hit three posts. They could have easily scored more and this is why we are not disappointed. We have been rewarded with a loss but we played with pride. Our fans applauded us and that on its own is like a victory." When asked about the last fifteen minutes and if the team could have tried to attack and try and get the draw Ghedin replied, “My squad cannot cope with more than what we showed today. To keep concentrated at these levels for 90 minutes and with a player less for us is very difficult. We just do not have that kind of rhythm in our league and you know perfectly at which pace and level we play. But of course one cannot forget that Italy played a good match and however a win is still a win.” Ghedin was asked if he expected more from Italy to which he answered that till now Italy did very well gaining three qualification wins out of three."Maybe you expected more goals yourself (to the media) but Italy today played very well having a lot of possession. We were limited in what we could do, but we did not barricade ourselves that much having also created some chances to score and not as some predicted we would do. We shot at goal and we had a couple of other chances which went just wide. I have to thank my players for their commitment."