Under-16s lose 0-2 to Luxembourg

The Malta Under-16 team played the first of two friendly matches against their Luxembourg counterparts at the Centenary Stadium on Tuesday.

Luxembourg prevailed after scoring a goal in each half to emerge 2-0 winners. Noah Rossler put Luxembourg ahead on 20 minutes and Cedric Baiverlin doubled their lead with 17 minutes remaining.

The Maltese youngsters upped their performance after the change of ends but they were unable to find the net despite creating a host of half-chances.

Noel Turner, the Malta Under-16 coach, used all nine substitutions in this first of two warm-up games which are intended to aid the Malta U-16 squad’s preparations for next month’s UEFA Youth Development Tournament

The two teams meet in their second friendly match on Thursday at the Centenary Stadium.

Between March 4 and 8, the Malta Under-16 team will play against Albania, Denmark and Scotland in the UEFA Development Tournament with all matches being played at the Centenary Stadium.

MALTA Miguel Spiteri, Zean Leonardi, Owen Sammut, Isaac Cutajar, James Vella, Nathan Agius, Antheos Spiteri, Jake Grech, Andrea Zammit, Kurt Briffa (c), Nathan Sultana.
Substitutes: Daniel Grima, Sebastian Cassar Torregiane, Mattia Aquilina, Nikolai Micallef, Jacob Crossey, Azriel Borg, Zachary Chetcuti, Brite Ihuomah, Joseph Xerri.

LUXEMBOURG Hugo Do Rego, Noah Rossler, Lucas Ferreira Figueiredo, Eldin Dzogovic, Fabio Martins Cerqueira, Noa Bonvini, Tom Nennig, Timothe Rupil (c), Paul Schroeder, Ruben Matheus Goncalves, Ryley Ferreira.

Referee: Ryan Caruana.