I’ve just returned from the local pub, where I watched Malta and Turkey play to an exciting 2-2 draw in Euro 2008 qualifying. I’m not aficionado of Maltese international play, but given the difference in populations (400,000 and 71 million) and FIFA Rankings (115 and 22), I assume this must be a historic result. Unimportantly, Malta’s squad may also be the baldest team in international football.
It’s extra sweet, because today is the 442nd anniversary of the lifting of the Siege of Malta, when the Ottomans were sent packing by to what’s now Turkey.
Hopefully some highlights will be available tomorrow on FootyTube, my newly-discovered source for football highlights on the web.
We don’t have a TV, so it’s nice to be able to get my fill of goals and incidents from the English Premier League and international play. The site is unquestionably illegal, so we’ll see how long it lasts. If anybody knows of similar sites (besides good ol’ BitTorrent), let me know.
I’ve also got a question for my Maltese readers: during the game, I saw that some people in the crowd were wearing black t-shirts with big white Maltese crosses on them (and no text, as far as I could see). Do you know where I might procure such a shirt?
UPDATE: Here’s the second Malta goal. Unquestionably, it’s the ugliest goal scored last night. But, as the saying goes, they all look the same on the score sheet:
Here’s a complete set of highlights, should anybody be interested.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Don’t try to be laughable and say that it was the ugliest goal that night. It’s a goal .. and that’s all that matters. You didn’t mention that although it was the ugliest goal, the defender who TRIED to defend the ball, was going to handle it with his hands. Don’t you think that is the worse defense of the night? We all know the rules. Don’t we? And I don’t think that we are the baldest international team, considering that we are above another 84 teams in the FIFA rankings and we have great players such as Michael Mifsud who plays for Coventry in the English Championship and he scores often. We can say the same for Justin Haber, the goalkeeper that he made success in foreign countries too. For us , this draw is a victory. A big victory. And don’t try to question that. Thank you.
Thanks for your comment. By ‘baldest’, I actually meant the team with the least hair. I appreciate that it’s an important result–that’s why I wrote that it ‘must be a historic result’.