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)