Malta battles out narrow win over San Marino

UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE
GROUP D2, MATCH DAY 4
National Stadium, Ta’ Qali

MALTA…1
SAN MARINO…0
(HT 0-0)
1-0 Zach Muscat 50.

A fabulous diving Zach Muscat header after the break was enough to give Malta a valuable victory over a stubborn San Marino side, an important three points in order to keep the pressure on Group D2 league leaders Estonia. It was Malta’s fourth win in the 13^th and final outing this season, and the fourth in the last twelve days, a season which started with a wonderful record breaking 3-0 competitive World Cup qualifying win against Cyprus on September 1 last year.

Compared with the Estonia match on Thursday, Malta national team Coach Devis Mangia made two changes in defence and two in attack. At the back, Ferdinando Apap and Zach Muscat were preferred instead of Jean and Steve Borg while up front, Luke Montebello and Luke Gambin got the nod ahead instead of Jurgen Degabriele and Alex Satariano, who both entered as late second half substitutes.

Before the match, one minute silence was observed for Malta kit manager Mark Piscopo, who passed away last week after a short illness. Black armbands were worn by the Maltese players in his memory and before kick-off, a bouquet of flowers was laid on his seat on the bench and flowers given to the widow and son of Mark by MFA president Bjorn Vassallo.

Despite Malta’s dominance throughout the match, the opening half ended goalless. After a quiet opening twenty minutes, the first goalscoring opportunity was for Ryan Camenzuli, who’s grounder on 22 minutes missed target by an inch. On the half hour mark, Teddy Teuma served Luke Montebello in the box but his attempt sailed over crossbar. Further attempts by Joseph Mbong from close-range, an Enrico Pepe header and a long distance shot from Teuma did not have the desired effect. San Marino’ only shot in the direction of Henry Bonello in the first half was a Luca Ceccaroli attempt on 40 minutes.  

Malta managed to break the deadlock after five minutes into the second half when a precise cross by Camenzuli was headed past goalkeeper Elia Benedettini by Zach Muscat. On 63 minutes, a Montebello goal from close-range was ruled out by off-side after VAR intervention. Four minutes later, a Teuma shot from the edge of the area was blocked into a corner by Benedettini, who was definitively Malta’s stand-in-the-way during the match.

San Marino were close to the equaliser on 68 minutes when, from a swift counter-attack, Alessandro D’Addario’s grounder hit the post. Four minutes later, Teuma’s close-range header brough the best out of Benedettini after an inch perfect Mbong cross. On 79 minutes, Montebello missed from an ideal position from a Camenzuli cross and two minutes later, a shot from substitute Jurgen Degabriele was saved by the San Marino custodian. On 88 minutes, Benedettini performed another great save on a Degabriele attempt. Deep into stoppage time, Malta escaped when San Marino countered their way towards Bonello but substitute Matteo Vitaioli concluded high.

On the 23^rd September, Malta plays their last match in this group in and against Estonia, while the Estonians need to travel to San Marino three days later to conclude their commitments in this 2022-2023 UEFA Nations League group. Estonia lead this group with a maximum points from two matches, on equal points with Malta who have played three games and therefore need a win in Tallinn to keep the promotion aspirations alive.

Malta
Henry Bonello, Ferdinando Apap (Jean Borg 78), Zach Muscat, Enrico Pepe, Ryan Camenzuli, Matthew Guillaumier, Teddy Teuma, Joseph Mbong, Brandon Paiber (Dunstan Vella 78), Luke Gambin (Jurgen Degabriele 71), Luke Montebello (Alex Satariano 87).
Coach: Devis Mangia

San Marino
Elia Benedettini, Alessandro D’Addario (Tommaso Zafferani 78), Filippo Fabbri, Dante Rossi, Mirko Palazzi, Luca Ceccaroli (Jose Hirsch 78), Lorenzo Lunadei (Matteo Vitaioli 85), Michael Battistini, Andrea Grandoni (Danilo Rinaldi 61), David Tomassini (Marcello Mularoni 61), Nicola Nanni
Coach: Fabrizio Constantini

Referee: Dennis Higler (The Netherlands)

Attendance: 2,646

Images copyright by Domenic Aquilina