Another heavy defeat for Under-17 national team

The Malta Under-17 side, led by coach Ivan Woods, suffered a second heavy defeat, losing 1-5 to Denmark at the Tony Bezzina Stadium in another match from Group 1 of the UEFA Under-17 Championship qualifying round on Saturday.

Malthe Johnsen Bøndergaard put Denmark ahead on the 10th minute and an own goal by Kian Vella on the 23rd minute doubled the score. Malta reduced the gap on the half hour thanks to Zak Barbara but four minutes in the second half, another own goal, this time by Sven Xerri, put Denmark 3-1 ahead. Six minutes from time, substitute Batuhan Zidan Sertdemir converted a penalty with Julius Eskelund Beck adding another four minutes in added time.

Malta, who lost the first match 1-6 to Turkey, plays the third and final match against Montenegro. The former Yugoslav republic lost 0-2 to Denmark and 0-1 to Turkey in their first two matches.

DENMARK Aske Leth Andresen, Malek Bakhit (67′ Emil Winther Højlund), Matteo Johannes Beltoft Grosso, Malthe Johnsen Bøndergaard, Mads Beyer Pasternak (46′ Batuhan Zidan Sertdemir), Elias Hansborg-Sørensen (90+1′ Julius Eskelund Beck), Mads Nybo Lauritsen, Bertram Bangsted Kvist (67′ Gustav Leone Fraulo), Malthe Rose Haislund Wallin (46′ Noah Donovan Sahsah), Magnus Munck Bjørnholm, Oscar Winther Højlund.

MALTA Domnic Vella, Andrew Apap Bologna, Sven Xerri, Kian Vella, Lucas Caruana (79′ Gabriel Vella), Sean Gatt (62′ Kian Leonardi), Ensell Attard (79′ Russell Caruana), Timothy Cachia (69′ Kaiden Fenech), Myron Micallef, Isaiah Ndubisi Junior Chukunyere (78′ Ivin Farrugia), Zak Barbara.

Referee: Robertas Valikonis (LTU)

One comment

  1. Too many foreign players on the island are damaging the national sides on all levels. I have been saying that the young ones are missing on regular playing time, so it disadvantages us when we play internationally. Why do we have to see 7, 8, or whatever foreign players in the first 11 playing week in week out in every Premier League clubs .What are we gaining from all these players? Maybe the standard went up a bit. In European competitions we do not advance by round Three. The first two rounds are always played against minnows so you accept that the Maltese clubs manage to get through. The MFA and the government should call a Royal Commission on Maltese football and fix the National teams.

Comments are closed.