Malta ended their UEFA European U21 Championship Qualifying campaign with a defeat, being outdone by two second-half goals away against Latvia at the Daugava Stadium in Riga.
Malta got off to a quick start, and just four minutes into the game, they had the first shot on goal. Shaisen Attard received the ball down the right, and after cutting inside, he curled a beautiful effort that was saved by Nikita Parfjonovs.
Just seconds later, Latvia came up the other end, and after some neat play, Bruno Melnis hit a close range shot that was excellently saved by James Sissons.
While both sides looked to build play from deep, they were finding it difficult to break each other down. Most of the attacking moments during the opening half came from counter attacks, yet neither side managed to cut the opposition defence open.
The score remained level at the break, with plenty still to play for in the second half.
Latvia took the lead after the break, when a free-kick was swung into the penalty area, with Kristaps Romanovs connecting to the cross, heading it past Sissons and into the net.
Malta looked to respond, and in the 56th minute, Brooklyn Borg did well to win the ball deep into the Latvian half, finding Attard, who released Mattias Ellul, but he dragged his shot wide.
The home side doubled their lead in the 60th minute, when Valerijs Lizunovs closed Sissons down, blocking his kick, and the ball ricocheted into the empty net. Latvia came close to adding to their scoring in the 67th minute, when an Ivans Patrikejevs corner found Alans Kangars, who headed it onto the bar.
Malta tried to build from the back, but they could not break the Latvian defence down, and the match ended 2-0 to the hosts, as Malta’s UEFA European U21 Championship Qualifying campaign came to an end.
UEFA EUROPEAN U21 CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIER
06.10.2026
Daugava Stadium, Riga
LATVIA…2
MALTA…0
(HT 0-0)
51’ Kristaps Romanovs (LAT), 60’ Valerijs Lizunovs (LAT)
LATVIA
1 Nikita Parfjonovs (GK), 3 Alans Kangars, 5 Kevins Cesnieks (7 Markuss Ivulans, 81’), 6 Ralfs Kragliks, 8 Ivans Patrikejevs (C), 9 Valerijs Lizunovs (20 Nils Veinbergs, 81’), 13 Glebs Mihalcovs, 16 Rudolfs Klavinskis (10 Danny Anisjko, 46’), 17 Bruno Melnis (14 Ralfs Sitjakovs, 90+1’), 18 Kristaps Romanovs, 21 Kristians Mezsargs (22 Milans Tihonovics, 90+1’)
Coach: Jakub Dovalil
MALTA
12 James Sissons (GK), 2 Deacon Abela, 3 Mattias Ellul, 4 Jake Vassallo, 6 Andy Borg (8 Lucas Caruana, 87’), 7 Shaisen Attard, 9 Isaiah Chukunyere (15 Trezeguet Zammit, 71’), 13 Kean Scicluna (11 Nathan Cross, 46’), 16 Jake Micallef (C), 17 Bjorn Buhagiar (18 Kaiden Fenech, 71’), 20 Alfie Bridgman (10 Brooklyn Borg, 46’)
Coach: Davide Mazzotta
Referee: Antoine Chiaramonti (AND)
Sports Editor
Veteran Journalist
Leave a Reply