The Malta Under-15 national team played two friendly matches against Bulgaria. After losing 0-4 in the first game, Malta lost 1-2 in the second one.
On Wednesday, the match was off to a rather balanced start, with both sides looking to inject some pace in their play, but they were finding it difficult to get a solid foothold on the ball.
Photo courtesy of Malta FA
In the 16th minute, there was the first major opportunity on goal in the game, and it came in favour of the visitors. A corner was swung into the Maltese penalty area, and Boris Stefanov rose highest, but his header was well saved by Zack Pule’. Moments later Bulgaria were in on goal again, after a loose pass at the back led to Daniel Lilkovski being fed through, but his effort was expertly saved by the Maltese goalkeeper yet again.
Bulgaria eventually went in front in the 28th minute, when Ivan Bichovski made first contact from a cross, heading into the back of the net to open the scoring for the visitors. Bulgaria continued to control most of the play in the first half, and they went into the break a goal ahead, with Malta standing firm and defending well to keep the visitors out.
After the break, Bulgaria quickly doubled their lead, when a pass found Yoan Yordanov, who went around the goalkeeper, before tucking it into the back of the net.
Malta tried to threaten more down the wings in the second half, and in the 51st minute, some neat link-up play led to Elijah Olorundare getting free on the right wing, but his effort from long range was saved by Velislav Tsonev.
Malta pushed forward more, and they came close to getting a goal back in the 54th minute, when a fine move led to Zyan Refalo crossing towards Nikolai Vella Giordimaina, and after making first contact with the ball, his header crashed against the crossbar and went out. Moments later, Refalo was active down the other end, recovering well to clear the ball from off the line from a Yordanov effort, keeping Malta firmly in the game.
The home side continued to press the Bulgarian backline, and a couple of well-worked passes led to Enzo Romao finding Vella Giordimaina, but his effort went way over the bar.
Bulgaria got their third in the 59th minute though, as Nik Georgiev finished off a move to further extend their lead.
After a rather cagey final few minutes, Bulgaria got their fourth goal in the 88th minute, when Pule’ got down well to save an initial shot, but Ivan Dedev was on hand to tuck away the rebound.
Malta 1 Zack Pule’ (GK) (C), 2 Zyan Refalo (13 Nathan Fasanelli, 75’), 3 Luke Mifsud (17 Andvic Inguanez, 46’), 4 Jesmar Spiteri (15 Jan Grech, 85’), 5 Lee Bonanno (19 Qays Ashour, 75’), 6 Isaac Montebello (18 Nathan Azzopardi, 85’), 7 Logan Farrugia (14 Vuk Kaljevic, 67’), 8 Nikolai Vella Giordimaina (22 Giuseppe Saliba, 85’), 9 Declan Zammit (21 Elijah Olorundare, 46’), 10 Beppe Melarosa (16 James Azzopardi, 75’), 11 Enzo Romao (20 Joe Caruana, 67’)
Coach: Jonathan Holland
Bulgaria 1 Velislav Tsonev (GK), 4 Dimitar Tsukov (13 Denis Raychev, 71’), 5 Boris Stefanov (C), 3 Galin Dimitrov (15 Martin Stankev, 71’), 2 Rumen Daskalov, 18 Daniel Rangelov (8 Ivan Dedev, 67’), 6 Nik Georgiev (17 Georgi Todorov, 60’), 10 Daniel Lilkovski (20 Nikola Radev, 67’), 11 Ivan Bichovski (9 Petar Tsukov, 60’), 7 Yoan Yordanov (16 Antonio Velikov, 60’), 14 Teodor Matev (19 Georgi Slavhov, 46’)
Coach: Petar Karachorov
Referee: Kieron Haber (MLT)
On the other hand, on Friday, the Malta Under-15 National Team suffered a 2-1 defeat after conceding two very late goals from the visitors.
The match was off to an even start, with both sides trying to get a foothold on the ball in midfield. In the eighth minute, Malta had an opportunity to get an early goal, when a cross from Vak Kaljevic found Declan Zammit, but he could not divert the ball on target.
In the 15th minute, Malta had a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area. A neat move led to Enzo Romao being free in the penalty area, but when he tried to cross the ball towards his teammates, it was blocked for a corner. From the resulting set-piece, Malta had another effort that was then cleared away.
26 minutes into the game, Malta had another set-piece, with a free-kick being swung into the penalty area from the wide right. While Bulgaria made first contact with the ball, it then fell to Elijah Olorundare, who hit a left-footed volley that was saved by Aleksander Ivanov.
Bulgaria had a good opportunity to go in front in the 36th minute, when a quick move down the right led to Ivan Dedev receiving a loose ball in the penalty area, but the Maltese defence did well to block his effort.
Malta went in front in the 39th minute, when a quick counter-attack led to Beppe Melarosa finding Romao, who made no mistake from the edge of the penalty area, firing into the net.
Early in the second half, a nicely-worked corner from Malta led to the ball being fed to Andvic Inguanez, but he could not make a clean contact with the ball, and it was easily saved by Ivanov. Bulgaria came down the other end only minutes later, with a lobbed pass finding Yoan Yordanov, but his effort was tame and did not trouble Sheldon Xerri in goal.
Bulgaria came close to equalising in the 71st minute, when Boris Stefanov found a pocket of space outside of the Maltese penalty area, and after hitting a powerful strike, Xerri got down very well to save, before the ball was then cleared away.
Bulgaria equalised in the 84th minute, when a long pass found Stefanov, who ran through on goal, before tucking it past the Maltese goalkeeper to make it 1-1. Just seconds from the restart, Bulgaria turned the game around, with Stefanov getting on the end of a cutback, firing it past Xerri and into the net.
Malta had a golden opportunity to equalise with the last kick of the game, when a throw-in found Logan Farrugia, but his shot went narrowly wide of the post, and the match finished 2-1 to Bulgaria.
Malta 1 Zack Pule’ (GK) (C) (12 Sheldon Xerri, 46’), 2 Zyan Refalo (13 Nathan Fasanelli, 69’), 17 Andvic Inguanez (3 Luke Mifsud, 60’), 4 Jesmar Spiteri (19 Qays Ashour, 88’), 5 Lee Bonanno, 6 Isaac Montebello, 21 Elijah Olorundare (18 Nathan Azzopardi, 88’), 14 Vuk Kaljevic, 9 Declan Zammit (20 Joe Caruana, 60’), 10 Beppe Melarosa (7 Logan Farrugia, 69’), 11 Enzo Romao (8 Nikolai Vella Giordimaina, 60’)
Coach: Jonathan Holland
Bulgaria 12 Aleksander Ivanov (GK), 4 Dimitar Tsukov (7 Yoan Yordanov, 46’), 5 Boris Stefanov (C), 3 Galin Dimitrov, 2 Rumen Daskalov, 18 Daniel Rangelov (20 Nikola Radev, 46’), 8 Ivan Dedev (17 Georgi Todorov, 46’), 10 Daniel Lilkovski (13 Denis Raychev, 77’), 11 Ivan Bichovski (14 Teodor Matev, 66’), 9 Petar Tsukov (16 Antonio Velikov, 46’), 19 Georgi Slavchov (15 Martin Stankev, 46’)
Coach: Petar Karachorov
Referee: Mark Azzopardi