Malta U18 made it back-to-back 1-0 wins in the second of two friendlies played against Latvia in the space of three days, after a controlled and confident performance.
Right after kick-off, Latvia did come close to opening the scoring, after a perfect cross found Nils Veinbergs, but his header was excellently saved by Malta goalkeeper James Sissons.
Photo courtesy of Malta FA
Malta’s first chance came in the seventh minute, as Jayden Vella picked out a great cross from the left, finding Thomas Melillo, yet his header was comfortably saved by Mārcis Kazainis.
Malta’s forwards started to link up excellently, producing a couple of neat passages of play. In the 10th minute, some nice passes freed up Melillo, yet his shot from the edge of the box was saved by Kazainis. Malta remained very confident going forward, making a number of inroads past the Latvia defence.
The scoring was eventually opened in the 30th minute, as some great passing moves on the right wing led to Joshua Pitts finding space, and after a couple of neat touches, he slotted the ball into the bottom corner with a left-footed strike.
Malta came close to doubling their lead two minutes later, as the ball fell to Keyon Ewurum in the penalty area, yet he did not make a clean enough contact with the ball, with his shot going in the middle of the goal and being comfortably saved by the Latvian goalkeeper.
Malta continued to control play, and on the stroke of half-time, they nearly got their second, as Ewurum dribbled into the penalty area and found Melillo, yet he was off balance and saw his shot sail over the bar. At half-time, it remained 1-0.
During the break, the two sides made a number of changes, and it took a few minutes until both teams settled and got going again.
Malta still looked the stronger of the two teams, and at one point after intercepting the ball in midfield, Malta’s attackers combined well, with Melillo finding space on the edge of the box, yet his left-footed strike was deflected to the wrong side of the post.
Malta had to rely on Sissons on a couple of occasions, as at one point, he had to do very well to deny Ratmirs Trifonovs, standing tall to retain his clean sheet.
As the game dragged on, Malta were looking to control the pace fo the play, while Latvia were on the hunt for an equaliser. However, they eventually ran out of time and Malta held out for another impressive victory. This made it two wins from two in the double-header against Latvia, a clear sign of the progress being made by the team.
Malta
1 James Sissons (GK), 2 Shelom Magri (22 Karl Grima 90+2′), 3 Jayden Vella (21 Claude Mercieca 46′), 4 Liam Micallef (17 Dwayne Pullicino 62′), 5 Sheldon Borg (C) (15 Nathan Joyce 72′), 6 Dejan Farrugia (13 Amin Malik 46′), 7 Adam Vella (18 Kye Cassar 62′), 8 Thomas Melillo (14 Luke Bugeja 62′), 9 Joshua Pitts (19 Emerson Piscopo 72′), 10 Keyon Ewurum (20 Kai Bartolo 46′), 11 Jake Borg (6 Aiden Agius 46′).
Latvia
12 Mārcis Kazainis (GK), 2 Gustavs Leitans, 4 Matiss Silins (18 Aleksandrs Molotkovs 46′), 6 Peteris Palameiks (11 Krisjanis Rupeiks 46′), 7 Rudolfs Klavinskis (C), 9 Kristaps Mosans, 15 Ralfs Bethers, 17 Marks Pacepko (10 Roberts Kukulis 46′), 19 Artjoms Lazarevs (5 Adams Dreimanis 46′), 20 Helvijs Joksts, 21 Nils Veinbergs.