Mixed fortunes for Under-15, Under-16 national teams in friendly matches

National Team
by Antoine Busuttil

The Malta Under-15 and Malta Under-16 national teams were both involved in friendly matches at the MFA Training Grounds on Monday.

The Under-15 side defeated Gibraltar 5-1 after beating them 2-1 on Saturday. Nathan Grech put Malta ahead after just one minute through Nathan Grech but Leon Mason equalised on the 11th. Lydon Seychell restored the lead for Malta on the 27th and quick fire goals by Nathan Zerafa on the 38th and Emerson Piscopo on the 39th handed the boys in white a most comfortable lead. During the second half, Jerome Baldacchino added another for Francesco Macri’s side on the hour.

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MALTA James Sissons (Miguel Camilleri 67), Lydon Seychell (Jayden Vella 67), George Grima (Eslam El-Nasar 67), Sheldon Borg, Shelom Magri (Nathan Joyce 55), Thomas Melillo, Jerome Baldacchino (Adam Vella 67), Nathan Grech (Jake Borg 67), Nathan Zerafa (Jayden Borg 60), Emerson Piscopo (Denzel Muscat 67), Claude Mercieca (Ubada Hijazi 55).

GIBRALTAR Ryan Smith, Joachim Ostheider (Sebastien Gorny 60), Sam Sheriff (Stefan Desoiza 61), Alex Collado, Jayvan Garro, Amos Federico, Danny Smith (Quentin McGlashan 67), Matthew Ward (Kai Bartolo 67), Leon Mason, Leon Ramirez (Evan Villa 41), Lucas Pocock.

Meanwhile the Under-16 national team, led by Andreas Vella, suffered another heavy defeat to Austria, losing 0-6. On Friday, the Austrians had registered a 5-1 win.

Nikolaus Wurmbrand put Austria ahead on the 4th minute, Christopher Olivier doubled the score on the 17th and four minutes later, Gabriel Macic made it 3-0. Wurmbrand added another on the 28th to hand them a four-goal lead. In the second half, Malta had Bradley Farrugia sent off and Austria scored another two goals thanks to Jovan Zivkovic on the 67th and Tarik Brkic three minutes later.

MALTA Niklas Vella (Jake Scicluna 41), Kewell Fardell (Peter Ohaka 71), Nic Briffa, Kean Scicluna, Lucas Okeke, Sasha Glumac (Shaun Carabott 41), Lenny Mattocks (Xylen Debono 79), Benjamin Cassar (Bradley Farrugia 41), Liam Delicata (Nexille Grech 41), Jake Azzopardi (Kayden Farrugia 71), Keyon Ewurum.

AUSTRIA Jonas Ueberbacher, Danny Kleinboeck, Marijan Oesterreicher, Jakob Brandtner, Florent Hajdini, Fabian Feiner, Christopher Olivier (Leon Lalic 72), Tarik Brkic, Muhammed Canazlar, Nikolaus Wurmbrand (Jovan Zivkovic 41), Gabriel Macic.