Day -613 WorldCup2018
(I could subtitle this: another day in the life of a football supporter of a small, underdog country)
I can easily gloat today about validation. One of Malta's star players, Andre Schembri of Boavista, pretty much repeated all my worries about Malta's defensive display yesterday. However, being proud that a player, playing in that match, had the same reaction as me is not my point. The insight into the sad state of Maltese football is way more important.
Interestingly, apart from the predictable Maltese newspaper reports about brave Malta's hardworking performance yesterday I have not come across much celebrating of "only losing 2-0 against England." The Maltese football fans are probably pretty fed up, not just of losing but also of the lack of any attacking intent at all.
Schembi's interview is in Maltese and here are the highlights:
"My reaction? We lost 2-0, again like the other times. Maybe in twenty years time you will ask another player the same question and he will give you the same answer. The problem is not the players, but those above us. It is time for a complete overhaul of Maltese football.
"I have been saying the same thing over and over again that change is needed. And you (journalists) interview us. Why don't you ask these questions to the 10 people who are here (in England) from the Malta FA? What can I say? We played, we lost (and my favourite bit coming up) we ran a cross country out there.
"Some people might be happy with a 2-0 loss. I'm not and you can say, yes, we were playing a strong team like England, but when you don't even create one attacking opportunity, that's very sad....not one attack."
Malta is ranked at it's lowest ever since Fifa rankings started 25 years ago. There may not be universal agreement with the ranking system. However, it is not a lie that Malta deserve to be number 176, equal with Surimame and Tahiti, and below Laos. Malta may just be another minnow in the eyes of supporters of the big teams, there for the likes of Germany, France, Spain to improve their goal difference. But football is important for Malta. It has the most facilities, by far, of any sport in Malta. It receives the most funding from the government for these facilities, the biggest sponsorhip deals, the highest number of participants, the most coaches and it is easily the most popular sport.
We, the fans. don't expect to qualify for World Cups. But, as even Schembri said, we expect better than what we saw yesterday. We expect a competitive team. What he means by changes at the top will hopefully emerge soon and hopefully something will happen. In my 35 years of following Maltese football we went from rock bottom (Spain, 12-1) to a smattering of good results, a few good wins and many battling, close defeats. Now we seem to be going backwards again and others are moving further away: Iceland, Albania, Cyprus, teams we beat in the past.
Yes, I admit, I did enjoy the confirmation, the approval maybe, of my argument yesterday. Sometimes negative honesty is needed to move forward, away from the comfortable staus quo.
I would also be happy with a much better result on Tuesday against Lithuania.
(I could subtitle this: another day in the life of a football supporter of a small, underdog country)
I can easily gloat today about validation. One of Malta's star players, Andre Schembri of Boavista, pretty much repeated all my worries about Malta's defensive display yesterday. However, being proud that a player, playing in that match, had the same reaction as me is not my point. The insight into the sad state of Maltese football is way more important.
Interestingly, apart from the predictable Maltese newspaper reports about brave Malta's hardworking performance yesterday I have not come across much celebrating of "only losing 2-0 against England." The Maltese football fans are probably pretty fed up, not just of losing but also of the lack of any attacking intent at all.
Schembi's interview is in Maltese and here are the highlights:
"My reaction? We lost 2-0, again like the other times. Maybe in twenty years time you will ask another player the same question and he will give you the same answer. The problem is not the players, but those above us. It is time for a complete overhaul of Maltese football.
"I have been saying the same thing over and over again that change is needed. And you (journalists) interview us. Why don't you ask these questions to the 10 people who are here (in England) from the Malta FA? What can I say? We played, we lost (and my favourite bit coming up) we ran a cross country out there.
"Some people might be happy with a 2-0 loss. I'm not and you can say, yes, we were playing a strong team like England, but when you don't even create one attacking opportunity, that's very sad....not one attack."
Malta is ranked at it's lowest ever since Fifa rankings started 25 years ago. There may not be universal agreement with the ranking system. However, it is not a lie that Malta deserve to be number 176, equal with Surimame and Tahiti, and below Laos. Malta may just be another minnow in the eyes of supporters of the big teams, there for the likes of Germany, France, Spain to improve their goal difference. But football is important for Malta. It has the most facilities, by far, of any sport in Malta. It receives the most funding from the government for these facilities, the biggest sponsorhip deals, the highest number of participants, the most coaches and it is easily the most popular sport.
We, the fans. don't expect to qualify for World Cups. But, as even Schembri said, we expect better than what we saw yesterday. We expect a competitive team. What he means by changes at the top will hopefully emerge soon and hopefully something will happen. In my 35 years of following Maltese football we went from rock bottom (Spain, 12-1) to a smattering of good results, a few good wins and many battling, close defeats. Now we seem to be going backwards again and others are moving further away: Iceland, Albania, Cyprus, teams we beat in the past.
Yes, I admit, I did enjoy the confirmation, the approval maybe, of my argument yesterday. Sometimes negative honesty is needed to move forward, away from the comfortable staus quo.
I would also be happy with a much better result on Tuesday against Lithuania.
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