Malta vs Northern Ireland International Friendly LIVE Football Score 30 May 2021

 

Northern Ireland travel to Austria on Sunday where they will face Malta in an international friendly fixture. Ian Baraclough’s side were due to face Turkey on Monday but that match was cancelled after Turkey were added to the UK Government’s red list for travel, and this match has also been rescheduled to kick off 25 hours earlier than first planned

Malta played three fixtures during the March international break and picked up their first point of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, but remain bottom of Group H after the opening round of matches. Their first game in the qualification campaign saw Malta host Russia and the away side came away with three points after Joseph Mbong’s strike was not enough to stage a comeback for the home side, who eventually fell to a 3-1 defeat.

An improved result came three days later when Devis Mangia’s side drew 2-2 with Slovakia, however after Luke Gambin and Alexander Satariano put Malta 2-0 up inside the first 20 minutes, they will be disappointed to have surrendered that lead. Last time out at the end of March they visited Croatia, who were too strong for Malta and came out as 3-0 winners after goals from Ivan Perisic, Luka Modric and Josip Brekalo.

Mangia’s side will have to wait until September for their next World Cup qualifying fixture, with the nation never before managing to qualify for a major international tournament. Northern Ireland are in a run of poor form, having not won a game in 90 minutes since October 2019 and they missed out on a place at the Euros this summer after an extra-time defeat to Slovakia in the playoffs.

Baraclough’s side have played two fixtures in their World Cup qualifying campaign, recording one defeat and one draw in the opening fixtures. In the opening gameweek in Group C, Northern Ireland travelled to Italy where they suffered a 2-0 defeat after first-half goals from Domenico Berardi and Ciro Immobile.

Their last fixture came against Bulgaria and, despite dominating the possession and creating more chances, Northern Ireland had to settle for one point after a goalless draw at Windsor Park. This game against Malta is the first of a double-header of friendly fixtures for Baraclough’s side, as it comes before they face Ukraine on Thursday.