Malta ended their UEFA Under-16 Development Tournament campaign with a thrilling penalty shootout victory over Andorra after a tight contest at the Centenary Stadium on Monday afternoon.
Malta came close to opening the scoring just three minutes into the encounter, when Gianni Zerafa skipped past the opposition defenders out wide, before cutting it back to Ayrem Aquilina, whose shot smacked the bar.
Photo courtesy of Malta FA
It did not take long for the hosts to find the net, as in the sixth minute, a quick counter led to Jayden Roe running through the Andorran midfield, before putting Lukas Freddie Wright through on goal, and while his initial effort was saved by Nil Soares, the forward tucked in the rebound to make it 1-0.
Malta were sharp on the ball, controlling most of the play in midfield in the opening stages. In the 24th minute, Liam Galea was freed down the left, and whipped a perfect cross in the penalty area, with Roe rising highest, but his header went just over the bar.
Andorra did have some half-chances as the game half wore on, and in the 37th minute, a cross was swung in from the left, with Eric Cerqueda meeting it first in the penalty area, but his effort went way wide.
In the 42nd minute, Malta doubled their advantage, thanks to another quick counter. Some lovely link-up play led to Luke Buttigieg running down the right wing, before crossing it to Cole Zerafa, who flicked the ball into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
61 minutes into the game, Malta were awarded a free-kick right outside the penalty area. Nicholas Busuttil tried his luck from range, but his effort was tame and easily saved by the goalkeeper. Moments later, Andorra halved the deficit when a loose pass at the heart of the Maltese defence was intercepted by Nil Fernandez, who stroked the ball past Deyan Gatt and into the net.
The visitors came close to equalising in the 75th minute, when a shot inside the penalty area took a nasty deflection, but it whistled wide.
In the 81st minute, a sharp move from Malta led to the ball being half-cleared by the Andorra backline, and it then fell to Busuttil, whose left-footed shot went over the goal.
Andorra equalised in the 86th minute, when Enzo Millan connected first to an in-swinging corner, tucking the ball into the net. As a result, the match finished in a 2-2 draw, with it then moving to penalties.
In a long penalty shootout, the score was 9-9. The decisive moment came in the final two penalties, the teams’ respective goalkeepers. Arnau Rodriguez had his effort saved by Deyan Gatt, with the Maltese goalkeeper then scoring his own penalty to win the game for Malta, ending the match in dramatic fashion.
MALTA
1 Noah Mulholland (GK) (12 Deyan Gatt, 46’), 4 Nicholas Busuttil, 5 Matteo Mangion, 8 Jayden Roe (C) (6 Kayden Hili, 85’), 9 Lukas Freddie Wright (7 Mateja Stevanovic, 60’), 10 Ayrem Aquilina (18 Sean Farrugia, 60’), 13 Liam Galea (2 Liam Gatt, 85’), 15 Kaiden Grixti, 16 Luke Buttigieg (14 Emerson Agius, 69’), 17 Cole Zerafa (19 Kenzil Vella, 60’), 20 Gianni Zerafa (11 Matthew Higgans, 60’)
Coach: Davide Mazzotta
ANDORRA
1 Nil Soares (GK) (13 Arnau Rodriguez, 46’), 2 Jan Ribo (21 Adri Del Amo, 57’), 4 Hector Ferreira (8 Adri Casas, 68’), 5 Eric Cerqueda, 6 Lucas Fernandez (3 Ivan Nunez, 68’), 7 Jan Gracia (C) (9 Nil Fernandez, 46’), 10 Marc Huguet, 11 Lucas Magalhaes (16 Enzo Millan, 46’), 18 Marc Ber, 20 Sergi Vidal (14 Biel Opoku, 57’), 22 Ayan Sonejee (15 Tom Kampfraat, 57’)
Coach: Jose Salvador
Referee: Jo-Anna Vassallo