Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1024340
29 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 SEPTEMBER 2018 SPORTS NATIONS LEAGUE What is the way forward for Malta? THE Maltese national team has been the target of heavy pressure as Malta has dropped to a record low 184th position in the FIFA World Rankings. The only European country behind us is Gibraltar. This has led to a number of sports followers to question the work done by the Malta Football As- sociation, the money spent on foot- ball, the commitment of the players as well as various other issues. During the previous World Cup qualifying campaign, Malta obtained just one point against Lithuania. In addition, the Maltese team managed just three goals, but conceded twenty- five. However, many acknowledged that playing against strong sides such as England and Slovakia leave the Maltese with very limited chances of gaining a result. Following this campaign, UEFA in- troduced the Nations League in which teams are paired together according to the FIFA World Rankings. Due to this, there were a lot positive vibes that Malta could win some points. However, on Friday, Malta lacked the ability to at least hold Faroe Islands who are a country that has a popula- tion of less than 50,000 people. There are many reasons for this which sports enthusiasts are discuss- ing. First of all, it is evident that the Maltese Premier League is a very poor league. The vast majority of the Mal- tese squad plays inside Malta and lack the experience which a player can gain from playing in a top league abroad. In fact, the only two foreign based players are Zach Muscat who plays for Pistoiese in Italy's Serie C and An- dre Schembri who is going through a positive spell with Apollon Limassol of Cyprus. The MFA seems to be working on this as a number of youngsters are giv- en the chance to go for a trial abroad every year. Unfortunately, nearly all of them decide to come back to Malta and establish their careers here. To make it worse, at the moment, seven foreigners are allowed to be included in the starting line-up. This is leading top clubs to invest in these foreigners and thus leave limited space for Maltese players to play in Malta's top league and develop. A related problem is that of strikers. Malta's current team is still depend- ent on Michael Mifsud to put the ball inside the net. There is no doubt that Mifsud is a quality player; however, it is evident that the team needs more fresh strikers. All Malta's strikers in- side the current squad are over thirty years of age except Jean Paul Farrugia. One can argue that there are emerging strikers such as Kyran Nwoko who al- ready made his debut with the senior team. However, the latter was forced to sit on the bench during Valletta's opening two matches as new signing Mario Fontanella was preferred. Another issue which was discussed is the attitude which we are used to it in Malta. There were times when Malta used to suffer heavy defeats against other European sides, though by time, Malta conceded less goals, but still failed to win matches. Despite the defeats, many applauded Maltese players for fighting bravely in order to avoid a heavy defeat which is a wrong attitude as only victories can be cel- ebrated. A defeat is always a defeat. Nations such as Iceland showed that a small nation can still win matches and challenge bigger countries. Now, the attention turns on Azer- baijan who face Malta on Monday. The latter are ranked 105th and are coming from a goalless draw against Kosovo on Friday. Playing against such a team on home soil should motivate the Maltese play- ers to bounce back with a good result in the first home match of the UEFA Nations League. Although it could turn out to be a struggle, Maltese players have all the quality to chal- lenge Azerbaijan if they play at their best and avoid individual mistakes. The game will kick-off at 20:45 and will be played inside the National Sta- dium. THE tournament involves all 55 UEFA member countries and aims to replace meaningless friendlies with increased competition. When does the first Nations League tournament take place? It starts in September and contin- ues across the October and Novem- ber international breaks. The finals will be played in June 2019. What is the tournament format? The 55 competing nations have been placed into four tiers based on their current UEFA ranking and each tier is split into four leagues - A, B, C and D - made up of three or four teams. Between September and No- vember the teams in each league will play each other home and away. The team finishing top of each group is promoted to a higher league and the team finishing bottom of each group is relegated to a lower league, except in the lowest tier (D). The four teams who win their re- spective League A groups will qual- ify for the knockout finals in June 2019 - semi-finals, final and third- place play-off - to decide the Na- tions League winner. One of those four teams will act as the hosts of the event - with a decision on that to be taken in December. Will there still be a regular qualifying campaign for Euro 2020? Yes. The Euro 2020 qualification draw takes place in Dublin in De- cember with all the matches due to be played between March and No- vember 2019. The top two teams from 10 groups will automatically qualify for the fi- nals. That will account for 20 of the finalists. The final four places are where the Nations League comes in again. So the Nations League can be a route to qualification for the Euros? Yes. The four group winners from each league - A, B, C and D, so 16 teams in all - will play off in March 2020 in a bid to secure one of the four remaining places. The format will be one-off play-off semi-finals, followed by a final, per league, with the win- ning team from each of leagues A, B, C and D taking the last four spots at the Euros. If a country has already qualified by the conventional route, their place will go to the next highest-ranked team from their respective Nations League tier. League A draw Group 1: Germany, France, Nether- lands Group 2: Belgium, Switzerland, Ice- land Group 3: Portugal, Italy, Poland Group 4: Spain, England, Croatia League B draw Group 1: Slovakia, Ukraine, Czech Republic Group 2: Russia, Sweden, Turkey Group 3: Austria, Bosnia & Herzego- vina, Northern Ireland Group 4: Wales, Republic of Ireland, Denmark League C draw Group 1: Scotland, Albania, Israel Group 2: Hungary, Greece, Finland, Estonia Group 3: Slovenia, Norway, Bulgaria, Cyprus Group 4: Romania, Serbia, Montene- gro, Lithuania League D draw Group 1: Georgia, Latvia, Kazakh- stan, Andorra Group 2: Belarus, Luxembourg, Mol- dova, San Marino Group 3: Azerbaijan, Faro Islands, Malta, Kosovo Group 4: FYR Macedonia, Armenia, Lichtenstein, Gibraltar The Nations League explained WARREN ZAMMIT Michael Mifsud during the Match against Faroe Islands PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL ZAMMIT CUTAJAR / MFA