Difficult start for Malta in UEFA U-17 qualifying tournament

2019 UEFA U-17 CHAMPIONSHIP – GROUP 3 AUSTRIA      7MALTA          0 The Malta Under-17 team’s participation in the qualifying campaign of the 2019 UEFA U-17 Championship began on a negative note as our boys succumbed to a 7-0 defeat to the strong Austrian side in their opening Group 3 match at the NNC Brdo in Kranj on Wednesday.  Austria made their attacking intentions clear from the outset. They surged into a two-goal lead through Matthias Braunoder (16) and Yusuf Demir (18). Demir scored his second three minutes from half-time to give Austria a commanding 3-0 half-time lead. The second half followed the same pattern as the first with Austria translating their supremacy into further goals through Bernhard Zimmermann (64, 69), Felix Kochl (88, penalty) and Deniz Pehlivan (90). The Malta U-17 team, led by coach Noel Turner, will be looking to bounce back from this defeat when they meet hosts Slovenia in their second match on Saturday. Their final group fixture is against Bulgaria on Tuesday. MALTA FORMATIONDylan Ciappara, Sheldon Mizzi, Ismael Borg (70 Victor Degiorgio), Karl Mohnani, Mattia Veselji (83 Kurt Briffa), Jordan Kelly, Jake Bone (70 Gianluca Borg), Gianluca Sciberras (56 Emerson Camilleri), Isaac Galea (83 Matthew Ellul), Owen Spiteri, Jake Engerer.