Malta played a historic match on Wednesday night as for the first time ever in history, the opponents, Venezuela, came from South America, the very first time Malta played against a CONMEBOL nation.
It was a useful friendly for Devis Mangia’s men, who are in preparation for three UEFA Nations League matches in the space of eight days between June 5 and 12.
The 0-1 score-line is creditable considering that Venezuela are 58 in the FIFA world ranking list, 111 places above Malta.
Coach Devis Mangia handed full international debuts to St Johnstone defender James Brown and Floriana midfielder Matias Garcia, who recently obtained his Maltese passport. Compared with the last friendly, against Kuwait (2-0) in March, only Enrico Pepe, Teddy Teuma and Matthew Guillaumier, who was handed the captain’s armband, retained their place in this experimental starting XI.
For the guests, most prominent players in their starting line-up were captain Salomon Rondon of Everton, while goalkeeper Wuilker Farinez is plying his trade with Lens in France. Midfielder Yangel Herrera made regular appearances this season in the Spanish La Liga with Espanyol, on loan from Manchester City. Sampdoria midfielder Tomas Rincon also entered the fray late in the match.
The first 45 minutes saw Venezuela taking initiative but initially Malta goalkeeper Jake Galea was only called into action once, on an Eduard Bello free-kick on 13 minutes, which the Balzan custodian pushed out for a corner. Malta were sitting deep, relying on counter-attacks but without taking advantage of the space they were occasionally given. The South Americans created several decent chamces and scored the only goal of the match on 34 minutes. It was Rondon who beat Galea with an accurate header, having the better of Zach Muscat in the air after an inch perfect cross by Yeferson Soteldo.
After the break, Venezuela continued to dominate in terms of ball possession but without creating much danger in the box of the Maltese. The nippy Solteldo continued with his darting runs which, combined with his agility and speed, proved to be a headache for the Maltese defence more then once. The hard-working Teddy Teuma tried to find Grech and Paul Mbong up front but both found it hard to penetrate the Venezuelan defence. With Luke Gambin and Jan Busuttil as substitutions, Mangia brough more flair up front but without the desired effect. Late in the game, also Mattia Veselji made his Malta national team debut, coming in as a substitute for Karl Micallef.
Malta will now travel to San Marino, who will be the first opponents in the 2022-2023 UEFA Nations League Group D2. This match will be played in Serravalle on Sunday afternoon, kick off 15h.
Malta
Jake Galea, James Brown, Enrico Pepe (Steve Borg 46), Zach Muscat, Karl Micallef (Mattia Veselji 84), Ryan Camenzuli, Matthew Guillaumier (Dunstan Vella 46), Matias Garcia (Jan Busuttil 77), Teddy Teuma, Jake Grech (Luke Montebello 64), Paul Mbong (Luke Gambin 64).
Coach: Devis Mangia
Venezuela
Wuilker Farinez, Nahuel Ferraresi, Yordan Osorio (Rpberto Rosales 77), Jhon Chancellor, Yangel Herrera (Jose Martinez 84), Christian Larotonda (Tomas Rincon 77), Yohan Cumana, Yeferson Soteldo, Jhon Murillo (Adalberto Penaranda 46), Eduard Bello (Christian Caceres 80), Salomon Rondon (Fernando Aristeguieta 77).
Coach: Jose Pekerman.
Referee: Kristo Tohver (Estonia)
Source: MFA
Photo: MFA
