Archives

Malta U-19s suffer narrow defeat against Luxembourg

Published: 25-10-2018 21:20
image1 (102)
image2 (33)
UNDER-19 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY LUXEMBOURG U-19 2MALTA U-19               1 The Malta Under-19 team suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat in their second friendly match against Luxembourg in Bascharage on Thursday evening.  Led by coach Winston Muscat, the Maltese youngsters produced yet another commendable performance, twice coming close to an equaliser in the dying stages after the hosts had restored their lead with a deflected goal. Alex Satariano was on target for Malta who had won the first friendly against Luxembourg on Tuesday courtesy of Paul Mbong’s goal. Muscat made three changes from Tuesday’s 1-0 win. Amara Sylla replaced the injured Duncan Formosa in goal, Glenn Attard came in for Dejan Debono, and Andrei Spiteri started ahead of Satariano. Malta held their own in the first half but it was Luxembourg who opened the scoring two minutes before the break through Lucas Coopmans. A goal down, the Maltese youngsters upped their efforts in search of an equaliser. They levelled matters midway into the second half with a header from Satariano who had just entered the fray. Luxembourg regained the lead eight minutes from time when substitute Dany Camilo Almeida’s effort took a deflection and rolled into the net. Muscat’s boys had two good chances to equalise in the closing minutes but Luxembourg survived to win 2-1. The friendly matches against Luxembourg are part of the Malta U-19 squad’s build-up for their commitments in the qualifying round of the UEFA Under-19 Championship. Belgium, France and Lithuania are the other teams in the Group 6 tournament, being staged in Malta between November 14 and 20, 2018. STARTING FORMATIONSLUXEMBOURGTom Keup, Loris Bernardy, Alexandre Sacras, Said Korac, Kevin D’Anzico, Tiago Semedo Monteiro, Lucas Coopmans, Mathias Olesen, Magnus Hardahl Hansen, Clayton Duarte, Nuno Vilar Rodrigues. MALTAAmara Sylla, Adam Magri Overend, Zak Grech, Glenn Attard, Chris Gauci, Shaun Dimech, Marcus Grima, Carlo Zammit Lonardelli, Andrei Spiteri, Ayrton Attard, Paul Mbong. REFEREE: Nuno Macedo.