In his first game as head coach of Malta, Davide Mazzotta will look to pull off the near impossible in an attempt to gain automatic promotion from League D Group 2, when they host Moldova in their penultimate Nations League game on Sunday.
Mazzotta’s men were set to warm-up in the run up to this crucial game with a friendly against Turkmenistan on Thursday (Oct 10), but due to unforeseen circumstances, the friendly was cancelled, with Malta playing a training match against local team, Balzan FC instead.
Malta currently trail Moldova by three points, as well as being behind by five goals in terms of goal difference. A second-place finish would see them play one of the two best-placed fourth-placed teams from groups in League C, which would most likely be Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg or the Faroe Islands.
In the reverse fixture in September, Moldova comfortably beat a lacklustre Malta side 2-0 in Chisinau.
Time was seemingly up for former boss Michele Marcolini, with a win over Andorra three days after the defeat still not being enough for the Italian to keep his job.
In place of him comes Mazzotta, who was the assistant manager under Devis Mangia, the country’s most successful manager in recent years, where, under his leadership, the nation went seven games unbeaten, Malta’s longest ever unbeaten run.
The Maltese coach’s first 26-man squad includes both experienced talents, as well as debut call-ups for Reading striker Basil Tuma, Gżira United centre-back Gabriel Mentz, and Australian-born, Trent Buhagiar, who plays for Brescia.
Speaking with Valhmor Camilleri, a sportswriter at The Times of Malta, he shared insight on Mazzotta’s selection.
He said: “He (Mazzotta) called up all the players that he worked with when he was with (Devis) Mangia, so actually he knows pretty much all the players, and this could be an advantage for him because the players don’t need to adapt to a new system, and they know what to expect from him and what he wants from them.”
While Moldova have had their manager, Serghei Cleșcenco since 2022, Mazzotta becomes Malta’s 4th since 2022.
Camilleri cited how “patience is the only thing missing from football federations at the moment” and how coaches aren’t given enough time to imprint their philosophy.
Marcolini was seemingly set up to fail, with Camilleri saying: ” He was appointed in January 2023, played some friendlies in March, where he only worked with them for a few days. The only time he got was six weeks at the end of the season to instil his philosophy before some friendlies in June.”
He also said that with the appointment of Mazzotta, it’s like Mangia is back at the helm.
“He was the man who worked with the players and the training. You know how today is, the coach, OK, he does training sessions, but it’s his assistant coach who direct the training session. And he was the guy that worked meticulously on the tactical setup of the team so I expect now that the national team will try and play the same kind of football that we had with Devis Mangia”.
