CLASSIC UFWC TITLE MATCH:
Malta 0-8 Netherlands, 19 December 1990
European Championships qualifier, Ta’Qali Stadium, Valletta
Scorers: Van Basten (5), Bergkamp (2), Winter

Malta has repelled many foreign forces during the course of its history, but this visit from UFWC and Euro champs the Netherlands ended in crushing defeat.

Football was introduced to the Mediterranean island by British soldiers in the mid-1800s, and the Maltese set up a football association in 1863 – the same year that the English FA was formed. But Malta didn’t start playing international football until 1957, and didn’t play a UFWC title match until 1971.

The Malta team of 1990 was a relatively vintage one, featuring several of the country’s all-time most-capped players and top goalscorers, including David Carabott and Carmel Busuttil. But wins were scarce for one of the smallest nations in world football, and they had no chance against the fearsome Dutch, led by the attacking trio of Dennis Bergkamp, Marco van Basten and captain Ruud Gullit.

The Oranje had briefly been UFWC champs following their Euro 88 win, but had only just recaptured the title with a 2-0 win over Greece.

Here in Valletta, van Basten had a hat-trick within 23 minutes, on his way to a five-goal haul. Aron Winter made it 4-0 in the second half, before Bergkamp got two, and van Basten got two more – the last from the penalty spot.

Poor Malta had been trounced by eight full goals. The Netherlands held on to the title until March 1992, when they were beaten by Portugal.

Classic Matches Malta, Netherlands

GREECE 5-0 MALTA Athens, 17/11/07
Gekas 32,72,74, Basinas 54, Amanatidis 61

UFWC and European Champions Greece thrashed poor Malta 5-0 to easily retain the unofficial title in this Euro Qualifying Group C encounter. Greece had already qualified for the finals, but they did not go easy on their visitors, who are rooted to the bottom of the group table.

Bayer Leverkusen forward Fanis Gekas was the hat-trick hero for the Pirates, claiming his first goal by stabbing in a rebound from a Stelios header. Malta kept the score respectable until half-time, but fell apart after the interval.

The pick of the Greek goals was a brilliant 20-yard strike into the top corner of the Malta net from captain Angelos Basinas. Then Giannis Amanatidis drilled home a loose ball to make it 3-0. Gekas then scored two goals in two minutes to claim his hat-trick, first a looping header, and then a poacher’s strike from a ball played straight down the middle.

Malta have now conceded 23 times in seven UFWC title matches, and failed to score once.

Impressive Greece now travel to Hungary on Wednesday evening for their final Euro qualifying match. Hungary were UFWC Champions as recently as September, having taken the title from Italy, then holding off Bosnia-Herzegovinia, before losing out to Turkey. Greece have already qualified, and Hungary cannot qualify for Euro 2008, so this match is all about the UFWC title.
Greece: Nikopolidis, Patsatzoglou, Dellas, Kyrgiakos, Torosidis (Spyropoulos 48), Basinas, Katsouranis,Karagounis (Tziolis 70), Stelios Giannakopoulos (Liberopoulos 46),Gekas, Amanatidis.
Malta: Haber, Josef Mifsud, Briffa, Said, Azzopardi, Pullicino, Pace, Sammut (Cohen 61), Nwoko, Schembri (Scerri 68),Michael Mifsud (Sciberras 78).

Match Reports Greece, Malta

GREECE vs MALTA Athens, 17/11/07

Saturday sees Malta attempt to take the UFWC title in this Euro Qualifier. Current UFWC and Euro Champions Greece have already qualified for Euro 2008, but Malta are seeking to avoid Qualifying Group C’s wooden spoon. Malta are currently rock-bottom of their group with just five points from ten games – 20 points less than Greece.

Malta coach Dušan Fitzel said, “Greece have already qualified and I expect a full house in Athens as Greek supporters will want to watch their heroes.”

Malta face a tough task – Euro champs Greece are FIFA-ranked 14th in the world, while the Maltese are ranked a lowly 137th, inbetween Yemen and Lenbanon.
Malta – with a population of just 400,000 against Greece’s 11 million – have never held the UFWC title. They have lost all six of their previous title matches, failing to score a single goal and conceding eighteen.

The Maltese squad includes three UK-based players – Michael Mifsud (Coventry City), and Andrew Cohen and Terence Scerri (both Hibernian). Macclesfield Town’s Luke Dimech is suspended.

The Greece squad includes Stelios Giannakopoulos (Bolton Wanderers) and Georgios Samaras (Manchester City). Greece will be without star striker Angelos Charisteas and Olympiakos defender Paraskevas Antzas due to injuries.

Should Malta manage to defeat Greece, they will take the UFWC title into a Euro with Norway four days later on Wednesday 21 November. If Greece hold onto the title, they will next defend it against Hungary on the same day.

Match Previews Greece, Malta