Match Review: Malta 0-3 Denmark
Written by Mark Stokes on Sunday 29th March 2009

MATCHDAY GALLERY

It was always going to be an uphill task for Malta. All but three of their players plied their profession outside of the Island - Mifsud, Bogdanovic and Haber - whereas Denmark had players in the top leagues in England, Italy and Denmark. They were also over 100 places apart in the rankings.

In the end a 3-0 scoreline flattered the Danish. Even their goalkeeper Sorensen realised that they had the benefit of the referees decisions. MIfsud should have had a penalty, indeed Malta were unlucky on two occasions as the Polish officials seemed to favoured the visiting team.

Mifsud had the honour of leading his team out. An early run from Mifsud saw him leave his marker all at sea before attempting a through-pass towards Schembri in the end securing a corner. From the set piece, Andrew Cohen traded passes with Mifsud before the Cohen swung over a cross that was punched away by Thomas Sorensen.

Malta were pressing hard in the opening ten minutes, bouyed by the lively crowd and they should have been ahead when, with 10 minutes gone, Mifsud again used his speed to surge past two defenders and into the box before squaring to Schembri in a central position in the small box. The Malta striker controlled the ball but his scrambled effort was blocked by Sorensen.

A few minutes later they were to pay dearly when Larsen, scorer of two goals, was played through by Rommedahl in the box, 8 yards out, to pass the ball into the net.

Denmark took control over the next ten minutes and doubled their lead on 23 minutes. Martin Jorgensen's cross from midfield found the Maltese defence all at sea as Larsen, completely isolated, beat Haber with a low effort. You cannot blame the keeper for either goal, the defense, not used to a strong attacking force could not deal with it.

The rest of the match was a more even contest as Malta, mainly through Mifsud and Bogdanovic, tried to find a goal. Still in the first half Malta had two strong penalty shouts waved away. It would have been intersting to see what would have happened if they had been given one of them.

In the second half both sides had some good chance, and Larsen should have secured a hat-trick and several occasions, but he was thwarted each time. The Maltese crowd cheered what they thought was a goal by Danoel Bogdanovic, but he had shot just wide and the ball rebounded into the net fouling the crowd into thinking it was a goal.

In the dying minutes of the match Morten Nordstrand fired home the Danes third goal, but Michael Mifsud, the best player for Malta by far, nearly had a chance right at the end of the game with a powerful surging run. With only Liverpool's Daniel Agger to beat, the Dane slipped and fortuitously as he ended up on his backside managed to stop the ball with a trailing foot. It summed up Malta's luck in the game.

Post Match Comments

Dusan Fitzel (Malta coach): "It's difficult to speak after a 3-0 defeat. I felt before the game that this was going to be hard a very hard encounter for our team. Denmark confirmed their quality but I am disappointed that we looked afraid of them in the opening minutes. It was only after we went 2-0 down that we started to play."

Morten Olsen (Norway coach): "We would have liked to play better football but our priority was to win and we're glad to have done that. I think that Denmark can qualify to the World Cup finals but it's going to be very difficult because it's a very tight group."