Ten-man Malta battle out goalless draw against Andorra

UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE
League D – Group 2
National Stadium, Ta’ Qali

MALTA…0
ANDORRA…0

Malta and Andorra battled out a goalless draw tonight at the National Stadium, a somewhat timid end of another UEFA Nations League campaign. In the final game of the calendar year 2024, the home side were seriously hampered by the early dismissal of Gabriel Mentz, which changed the course of the game completely. Although Malta initially kept on going to force out the opening goal, the visitors created the best opportunities in the final part of the game.

On the positive side, it was Malta's fourth consecutive game without conceding a goal, equalling records established during season 1999-2000 (twice against Lebanon, Qatar and Azerbaijan) and in 2020 (Gibraltar, Andorra, Latvia and Liechtenstein). 

Compared to Malta’s last competitive home game against Moldova last month (1-0), national team coach Davide Mazzotta changed his team on just one place with Jurgen Degabriele getting his strong performance against Liechtenstein rewarded with a place up front instead of the injured Luke Montebello. The remaining ten were also starting against Moldova, with Matthew Guillaumier once more captaining the side.

On 12 minutes, Trent Buhagiar used his speed to penetrate the Andorra defence, serving Joseph Mbong with an intelligent back-heel with the Hamrun Spartans winger testing Iker Alvarez for the first time with a grounder from just outside the area. Three minutes later, Andorra captain Marc Garcia nearly surprised Henry Bonello with a long-range attempt from his own half, with the Malta custodian rectifying his position in time not far from the fatal line.

Malta received an upset when on 17 minutes, VAR interfered after a Mentz foul on Albert Rosas in midfield, which had initially been awarded a free-kick by the Bosnian referee, but after the check, the Gzira defender was given his marching orders. This forced Mazzotta into a tactical change to restore the balance in the team as Degabriele had to make way for Mentz’ teammate Enrico Pepe. It was a tensed period of the match with several cautions being given on each side from various obstructions.

Just after the half hour mark, Malta received another setback as left flank defender Ryan Camenzuli had to be replaced injured, which meant Mazzotta used his second first-half substitution with Myles Beerman coming on. On 36 and 37 minutes, Malta created two great chances with firstly, Joseph Mbong blasting high from close-range and after the resultant corner, Guillaumier crossed in the six-yard box with both Buhagiar and Kurt Shaw incredibly failing to connect. Deep into stoppage time of the first half, Bonello did well to parade a curved goal attempt by Joan Cervos.  

Even with a man less, like in the first half, Malta kept the initiative in the first period after the break. On 54 minutes however, Malta were caught on the counter-attack with Rosas shaking off Pepe, advancing into the box but his attempt sailed wide, the visitors’ best opportunity up to that point. Teuma had an off-target attempt on 63 minutes with a drive from 20-meters distance while four minutes later on the other side, Bonello turned a Cervos shot into a corner.  The same Cervos could have given Andorra the lead on 72 minutes but Bonello blocked his grounder from an ideal angle.

The visitors crawled out of their shells in the final 15 minutes of the match with the Maltese slowly tiring out and lacking ideas to break the defensive wall of the visitors. On 84 minutes, Rosas produced a darting run on the right side of the box but no-one could connect from his inviting cross. At the very end of regular time, Rosas came close with a low drive that just missed target to the relief of the Maltese contingent.

Nevertheless, with the runners-up spot in this group already secured, Malta will be involved in a Promotion/Relegation Play-Off spot against either Latvia or Luxembourg, who are the two best-ranked fourth placed teams in Group C of the UEFA Nations League. The draws of these two ties are on Friday in Nyon and will be played in March 2026. Furthermore, on 13 December, Malta knows their opponents in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification, which should start in March next year.

Malta
Henry Bonello, Jean Borg, Gabriel Mentz, Kurt Shaw, Ryan Camenzuli (Myles Beerman 34), Joseph Mbong, Matthew Guillaumier, Teddy Teuma (Steve Pisani 90+1), Paul Mbong (Alex Satariano 46), Trent Buhagiar (Basil Tuma 46), Jurgen Degabriele (Enrico Pepe 24)
Coach: Davide Mazzotta

Andorra
Iker Alvarez, Biel Borra (Jesus Rubio 77), Ian Olivera (Francisco Pomares 86), Moises San Nicolas, Eric de las Heras, Izan Fernandez (Ricard Fernandez 63), Christian Garcia, Marc Garcia (Adrian Da Cunha 77), Joao Da Silva (Pau Babot 63), Joan Cervos, Albert Rosas
Coach: Koldo Alvarez

Referee
Luka Bilbija (Bosnia Herzegovina)

Yellow cards
J.Mbong, Beerman (M), I.Fernandez, Joao Da Silva, Olivera, Babot  (A)

Red card
Mentz (M)