EURO 2020 | SPAIN 7 MALTA 0 - GROUP F QUALIFIER

EURO 2020 Group F qualifying match between SPAIN & MALTA played in the city of Cadiz. Spain sits comfortably at the top of the group & wants to win both games, Malta & next Mondays Rumania clash to stay first of Group F.

Here is a brief summary of events, goalscorers & final result.

Spain starting XI line up vs Malta:
Pau Lopez; Jesus Navas, Albiol, Ramos, Bernat; Rodri, Thiago, Cazorla; Sarabia, Gerard Moreno & Alvaro Morata

As expected with Malta last in the Group table & the least strong,  Spain dominated all the match with the visitors putting up an ultra defensive line-up. There was up to 6 defenders in-line as Malta hopped to avoid a scandalous result & if lucky find a counter-attack that may have lead to a goal.

Malta held out the best they could most of the 1º st half only "halting" Spain down to two goals up to the 45th min. 

However, the 2º half was a completely different game with Spain scoring another 5 goals. Two Spanish players debuted in the 2º half; defender PAU TORRES (Villarreal) & DANI OLMO (Dynamo Zagreb) with both scoring a goal in their debut. Good match played by Cazorla (also scored) & Gerard Moreno ( assisted on various occasions & scored a goal).

The final result could have been greater in favour of Spain but they missed more than a dozen goal opportunities, including a disallowed off-side & a post.

FINAL RESULT: SPAIN 7 - MALTA 0

Goalscorers:
1 - 0 (23´) Alvaro Morata 
2 - 0 (41') Santi Cazorla
3 - 0 (62') Pau Torres
4 - 0 (63') Pablo Sarabia
5 - 0 (69') Dani Olmo
6 - 0 (71') Gerard Moreno

7 - 0 (85') Jesus Navas

Next Group match for Spain next Monday in Madrid against Rumania.

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MALTA 0 SPAIN 2 | EURO 2020 GROUP F QUALIFIER

Tonight EURO 2020 qualifiers with a GROUP F match schedule between MALTA & SPAIN. Here is a brief summary of the main events, the goalscorers & the final result.

MALTA vs SPAIN

Spanish National Team Coach Luis Enrique had to fly back to Spain for a family emergency & his role was taken tonight by his second in charge ROBERTO MORENO. His choice of the starting 11 (above image) had 8 changes from the match against Norway last Saturday: Kepa, S Roberto, Hermoso, Gaya, Rodri, Saul, Canales & Bernat were the new names.

The first half was very clear, Malta was to defend putting up to 9 - 10 men in their area, while Spain had complete ball domination. Under this scenario good Football is very difficult to create & in fact the game was fairly boring. Spain attacked & bounced off the Maltese wall until the 31st min when ALVARO MORATA got onto a pass which he managed to slip past the goalkeeper Bonello for Malta & register Spain´s opening goal. That was basically it for the half. 

The 2ond half was more of the same. Spain dominating & Malta defending. A substitution which shaked things for Spain was the coming on of Jesus Navas who was dangerous along the right flank. From his pass came the second goal from Spain when ALVARO MORATA managed to header home his second for the night in the 73rd min.
Three more points for Spain which currently leads Group F unbeaten in two matches with 6 points. 

FINAL RESULT: MALTA 0 - SPAIN 2 

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SPANISH FOOTBALL FLASHBACK | HISTORIC PICTURE OF SPAIN 11 AGAINST MALTA 12 - 1 RESULT

Relatively quite on the Spanish Football News front today. All the media is either shouting for Cristiano Ronaldo to be given the FIFA Golden Ball, or updating on all the FC Barcelona injuries like Messi, Alves & Valdes, speculating on the substitute player for injured Real Madrid midfielder Khedira, commenting on the "horrific" Messi jacket at his European Golden Boot presentation or heating up the fierce City of Seville derby this weekend between Sevilla FC - Real Betis in Liga.

With all this presumably not fresh news to most World Soccer fans or regular Blog readers thought I take advantage & post up a Historic Spanish Football National Team starting 11 picture from 1983. A team that made themselves a space in the History of Spanish Football.

These 11 Spanish players

Camacho (Captain), Maceda, Goikoetxea, Gordillo, Señor, Buyo

Carrasco, Victor Muñoz, Santillana, Rincón, Sarabia

were the starting team that defeated Malta 12 - 1 the 21st of December 1983 ( Benito Villamarin Stadium, Seville SPAIN) in the last Group 7 qualifier for the 1984 European Nations Finals. Spain before this match was second to the Netherlands in the Group & needed to win by at least 11 goals to qualify. The match & result is history.

The goalscorers for Spain were:

16' Santillana
26' Santillana
29' Santillana
47' Poli Rincón
57' Poli Rincón
62' Antonio Maceda
63' Antonio Maceda
64' Poli Rincón
76' Santillana
78' Poli Rincón
80' Manu Sarabia
84' Juan Señor

The only goalscorer for Malta was Michael Digiorgio 24th min.

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