Match Report
First half:
Malta kick off through Busuttil and Gregory. They play into a slight bit of breeze in the first half. Today’s midfielder Degiorgio’s 27th birthday, and the Malta number 10 is their sole survivor from the two countries’ only previous encounter in Valletta: The ’84 European Championships qualifier some six years earlier. David O’Leary is likewise for the Irish. The visitors’ travelling band of supporters are loud. Some of them had gone through an ordeal just to get to the ground in time, as they had been held up in the Dublin airport by a solid bout of fog. It wasn’t until about 50 minutes from kick-off that the last Irish fans arrived in the country. Among the Irish support there is also one very proud father. Ronnie Whelan senior, himself a footballer in the 50s, 60s and 70s with St. Patrick’s and Drogheda, sees his son captain their country for the very first time.
The strong Irish line-up means they obviously treat this game very seriously, and why wouldn’t they, even if there is only a minor theoretical possibility that they could miss out on next year’s World Cup. They hit it long for both Cascarino to win headers and for Houghton to run in behind the Malta defence. It is hardly a surprising tactic, but again the big centre forward is more or less without opposition in the aerial challenges. Silvio Vella must be a good three or four inches smaller than the Millwall striker, but like in their last encounter, he is the one who has to look after Cascarino. It is hardly an enviable task.
Malta’s push-out tactic to leave the opposition offside seems a risky one, even if they succeed in their first attempt. However, on the next two occasions, Packie Bonner’s huge kicks will find their way deep into Malta territory without the Irish being called offside. On the last occasion, Ray Houghton, who else, gets to the ball and can only square it for the on-rushing Kevin Sheedy to sweep home, but his pass is not powerful enough, and Buttigieg gets back in time to clear the ball out for a corner. Malta abandoned this tactic immediately.
Without their playmaker Ray Vella, probably Malta’s only central midfielder of an international stature, the home side struggle to string a lot of passes together, and there is almost relentless pressure on the Malta backline. However, the Republic are unable to create any big openings, and their opportunities come from set-pieces, where said Cascarino is an expected handful. His headers rarely threaten Malta’s teenage goalkeeper Cini, though.
In the absence of R Vella, Brentford’s Buttigieg is the home side’s captain. Throughout his career he has often been balancing on a fine edge in his defending art, has Buttigieg, who is always reluctant to boot the ball into space. He is never short of confidence, and will more often than not try to manoeuvre his way out of trouble ball at feet. It is a high risk game, especially when up against players of international calibre, but oddly enough he’s not been punished severely so far during these qualifiers, as he has a knack of coming out of most situations with the ball intact by his feet. He seems to care less whether his opponent is a major international star or someone from the English third division; he does not wish to change his ways. And just like he has been doing when David Cluett’s been keeping goal, he also assists Reggie Cini with goal kicks.
Despite being unable to create major openings, it comes as little surprise when the Irish go in front. Their fans can relax: As Aldridge heads home a flicked Ray Houghton corner on the far post to collect his only second goal at this level, Spain are already two goals to the good against Hungary in Seville. If there ever was any doubt before the match as to who would be going to the World Cup from Group 6, it has now been washed completely away. There is no way that the Republic of Ireland can slip up now. Malta try their best to give the visitors a game, but they are overpowered in midfield, where Townsend is the enforcer and Whelan the brain. Even against three men centrally they outwit the home side, who did not have a single shot on target during the opening 45 minutes. The Irish did lose influental centre half Kevin Moran, recently voted ‘Irish player of the year’, to an injury which he had picked up during a challenge in the Maltese box, coming off some ten minutes after a knock. Chris Morris came on, shuffling McGrath into the heart of the defence, with Morris himself taking up his accustomary right back position.
The first half had seen one booking: Joe Galea was shown the yellow card for bringing down Aldridge almost up by the halfway line.
Second half:
As the second half unfolds, it is noticeable that Heese has added one of his forwards to the midfield area: Carabott’s been assigned to a left-sided role, probably to aid Azzopardi in trying to deal with the enigma that is Houghton. They can do little as the Irish kick-start the second period when Houghton’s free-kick into the area finds Cascarino in the area, and the big man’s header again finds Aldridge, who does not connect cleanly. If he had done, Ireland would have been two up within the first 50 seconds. As it is, Malta are still in the game. Yet with only Busuttil up front, the task of troubling the Irish goal will not be any easier than it was during the first half.
Ireland don’t appear to be quite as direct as they have been in earlier qualifying matches, but not least through Houghton they’re still very much a threat to the safety of the home side, who just does not have the quality to compete on even terms with their World Cup bound visitors. Buoyed by the form of his former Liverpool team mates Houghton and captain Whelan, Aldridge contributes a lot to the Irish success this night. Having scored the only goal before the half time break, he continues to make it a difficult night for his marker Galea, and he is cool as ice when he nets the penalty which was caused as Carabott, obviously not a great tackler of the ball, usually being played in a more forward role than was the case during the second half, brought the through-storming Townsend down inside the area, having tracked the Norwich midfielder’s run for a good few yards. The travelling contingent are chuffed behind Cini’s goal, and it had been a beautifully excecuted pass from the excellent Whelan that once again caused an opponent trouble as he had played Townsend through.
Malta had appeared to give a better account of themselves in the opening 10-12 minutes of the second half, but they do not get any closer than Carabott’s rather tame header way wide of Bonner’s goal some six minutes in. On the other side of the pitch, Sheedy has three pops at goal in the final 45 minutes, and while his two left-footed attempts are way off target, he came close to actually hitting the target when shooting with his much weaker right foot.
Aldridge and Ireland’s second goal arrives about midway through the second half, and it prompts a double substitution from Heese, taking off defender Azzopardi and midfielder Zerafa for Hubert Suda and Joe Zarb, a midfielder and a striker respectively. Zerafa, making his first appearance in a qualifying match, had been rather quiet, and with Suda on in his place, the Maltese midfield looks to have increased their energy levels. David Carabott, the man who had brought down Townsend for the penalty which gave Ireland their second goal, and who had been told to play as a wide left midfielder in the second half, would have added defensive responsibilities now that Azzopardi had been replaced. Zarb took place next to Busuttil up front, but he was never much of a threat to the sturdy Irish backline, where McGrath in particular excelled.
The Irish fans start their traditional ‘Molly Malone’ performance a few minutes from the end, when pace has died down and little is happening at either end of the field. However, there’s a sudden burst of life when Aldridge heads Houghton’s right wing corner towards goal, aiming for his first international hat-trick, but Degiorgio’s handily placed on the goalline to get an outstretched foot onto the ball and clear it away, though only into the path of Whelan, who does not react quickly enough as the ball cannons into him, and the ball’s eventually cleared. That is the final peace of action, and the big crowd will wander off into the rapidly descending dusk. There will be lots of Irish celebrations in the streets of Valletta tonight.
Conclusion:
A very solid Irish performance, in which they put the Maltese on their backfoot for most of the game. It does look like John Aldridge is finally starting to produce in Eire colours, something which bodes very well for next year’s World Cup, where the Republic of Ireland will now be participating for the very first time. Despite losing influental defender Moran to injury in the first half, Ireland were never threatened by the hosts, and they copied the margin of victory achieved here by Spain and Northern Ireland. Whelan and Townsend made sure that the men in green held a comfortable grip of midfield throughout. One slight Irish worry was whether or not Ray Houghton, perhaps their star player during the qualification campaign, would have to miss out on the opening World Cup match following a second yellow card (he had picked up his first in the 2-0 defeat in Spain), as he was booked for a poorly timed challenge on Malta skipper Buttigieg. Precedent from yesteryear says no.
35′
