EC qualifier in Valletta, December 14, 1994 =========================================== Malta - Norway 0-1 (0-1) Ta'quali stadium. Att: 3500 0-1 Jan Åge Fjørtoft (10) Referee: G Beschin, Italy. Yellow card: Gunnar Halle (18), Erik Mykland (89), Norway. Line-ups -------- Malta (4-5-1): David Cluett - John Buttigieg - Nicholas Saliba (Carmel Scerri from 87.), Michael Woods, Joseph Camilleri - Kristian Laferla, Martin Gregory, Silvio Vella, Joe Brincat, David Carabott (Richard Buhagiar from 64.) - Carmel Busuttil. Norway (4-5-1): Frode Grodås - Gunnar Halle, Henning Berg, Ronny Johnsen, Stig Inge Bjørnebye - Jostein Flo, Erik Mykland, Kjetil Rekdal, Lars Bohinen (Ståle Solbakken from 72.), Sigurd Rushfeldt (Jahn Ivar Jakobsen from 87.) - Jan Åge Fjørtoft. Other match in group 5 ---------------------- Netherlands - Luxembourg 5-0 Norway 4 3 1 0 7- 1 10 ----------------------------------- Netherlands 4 2 2 0 10- 1 8 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Czech Republic 3 1 2 0 6- 1 5 Belarus 3 1 0 2 2- 5 3 Malta 3 0 1 2 1- 7 1 Luxembourg 3 0 0 3 0-11 0 Match report ------------ From the side that crushed Belarus a month ago, one change had been made. Because of injury in training Leonhardsen had to step aside. His place was taken by Jostein Flo, the giant midfielder/forward. The main reason behind putting Flo back in the side (despite lack of match practice for Sheff.Utd) was his height, which was expected to be very useful against the relatively small Maltese players. Even though Norway were considered favourites, away games at Malta are never easy and sides rearly win big in Valletta. On the other hand this was a match Norway had to win, in order to stay in contention for England'96. As the Czech Republic dropped a point there in their game, a win would give Norway an edge over the Czechs. As we all know that's exacxtly what happened :-) The game started very well for the Norwegians. In the first 30 minutes Malta were hardly out of their own half, and could only clear the ball into the stand or kick it as long as their managed into the Norwegian half. The extreme (even for Norway :-)) tactic of punting the ball towards the tall wings, Flo and Rushfeldt, who then flicked the ball on, worked very well and caused panic in the Maltese defense time after time. After only 10 mins this tactic also gave result as a long ball from Halle, was flicked on by Flo to Fjortoft, who scored with ease. In the minutes afterwards Norway could easily have increased their lead. First, Fjortoft got a free shot, after the goalkeeper lost the ball under no pressure, which was saved on the line. Then, Flo had a header on a corner saved on the line as well with the keeper beaten. Rekdal also had a shot just wide, but the biggest chance came after a cros by Mykland was flicked on by Rushfeldt to Fjortoft. His shot was brilliantly bloclked by the Maltese goalkeeper, who also saved the rebound from Rushfeldt. Surely that should have been 2-0, which would have put the game beyond the Maltese. But as that didn't happen, the Norwegian superiorioty was dropping towards the halftime, and Malta were let into the game. In fact, in the the space of 5 minutes the home sides created two _huge_ chances. Both times by Laferla. First, he was sent alone towards Grodas (there was a suspicion of offside though), who made a brilliant save. Minutes later a clever freekick combination (short kick to second player - immediate pass to third player, who originally was standing in the wall) Laferla hit the post. However, an eqializer at that time would have been really undeserved. In the second half the Norwegian play was getting worse and worse as the half progressed. Not that Malta were any better, as they had no shots on Grodas at all during that half... The game was reduced to a lot a midfield play, miskicked passes and generally a boring spectacle. The only great chance in the half went to Flo in injury time. Completely free in front of the Maltese goal, the big man kicked the ball straight at the goal keeper when it would have been easier to score. In the dying seconds Malta got a corner kick, but as with all their other setpieces this was wasted as well. All in all, we should be relieved that Norway got three points and still lead the group. That was the most important thing on Wednseday. However, the game itself left a lot to be desired, and afterwards even the Norwegian players admitted that they had played one of their worst games this year. Perhaps the early lead made the players think it would be easy?