Malta U21 Coach Ivan Woods has highlighted the need for the U21 team to increase its tempo in order to compete in their upcoming matches against two very strong teams, Hungary and Spain, in the UEFA European U21 Championship Qualifiers.
Malta will play its final two Qualifiers in Group B during this international window, first taking on Hungary this Thursday at 20:00hrs at the Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium in Budapest, Hungary. This will be followed by another away match, this time around against Spain on Tuesday 15th October 2024 at 17:00hrs at the Municipal Nuevo Mirador in Algeciras, Spain.
Speaking on MD-1 before the match against Hungary, Woods stated that despite the challenging teams that Malta has faced in Group B, it has been a very good learning curve for the players who have given a good account of themselves. However, he also said that the team recognises that it needs to perform better in both areas of the pitch, both in attack and in defence.
“Even though we have not managed to gain points yet in these Qualifiers, I think that in all of the games that we have played so far, we have competed,” he remarked.
“We managed to score against all of the teams except Hungary and Spain, whom we will play over the coming days. We have also scored in all of our away matches, which is also very encouraging for us,” Woods continued.
Commenting on Malta’s match on Thursday, he stated that Hungary has a balance of physically strong, yet also very technical players.
“They are quite a direct team and play really fast football. Therefore, the challenge is always for us to up the tempo against any opposition and adapt to it. We expect the game to be played at a tempo which is quite high,” Woods added.
Woods stated that there are several players who could not be selected for the call-up due to injuries or because they were selected to be part of the Senior National Team, albeit this reflects positively on their development pathway. Woods reiterated his faith in the players that are part of the squad, describing these two games as an “opportunity to show that they deserve to be with the U21 National Team.”
Woods added that in these Qualifiers, Malta has had 18 players who are young enough to play in another edition for the U21 side. Some of them can also play in two editions. “We have used quite a young squad to compete against very, very good teams,” he concluded.
Source: Malta Football
Photo: Malta Football
