After a successful tournament, I flew back to Malta with Valletta FC.
After two wins it was all about the last game. As Veles SC had a better goal clearance, Valletta FC had to win. Although Veles took the lead in the 8th minute, Valletta stayed calm en kept on playing. They even took over in the 15th and 16th minute via Camilo Gomez; 1-3 was also the half time score.
Valletta returned very well from the dressing room and scored twice in the first minute of the second half; 1-3 and 1-4. This was also the sign for Veles to start playing power play, this gave Valletta hard times. And when Veles made the 2-4 within two minutes I thought it would go wrong.
But it was Denis Di Maio who intercepted the ball and made the difference again 2-5. But again Veles came back. Finally it was Camilo Gomes who scored again. After that I saw a never seen goal: Tornike Bukia, goal keeper of Valletta, still was celebrating when the opponents kicked off and he didn’t saw that the ball was shot into the goal. Fortunately he did well one minute later by stopping a shot and shooting it directly into the opponents goal. The last goal, 5-8, was made by Yerai.
Now on to Slovakia, 2-7 October, for the next stage where they will meet an even more tough task.
Photo: Julian Calleja