The Malta Under-19 national team endured a challenging night at the Centenary Stadium, falling to a dominant 8–0 defeat against Belarus in their second friendly match ahead of the UEFA U19 Championship qualifiers.

The visitors wasted no time, striking inside the second minute through Kirill Apanasevich, followed by a composed finish from captain Daniil Galyata just six minutes later. Malta responded with a decent spell, and Jean Borg came close to reducing the deficit on 17 minutes but fired over.

Belarus struck again before the interval when Bogdan Gusev finished off a swift counter-attack in the 37th minute.

After the break, Belarus continued to pile on the pressure. Substitute Maksim Sakuta made it four on 58 minutes, and Ilya Gubarevich struck twice in quick succession (71’ and 73’). Timofey Tkachev added a seventh with a powerful strike from inside the area, before Stanislav Kazmerchuk sealed the scoreline six minutes from time.

Malta pushed for a late consolation when Jack Camilleri’s effort went narrowly over the crossbar, but it wasn’t to be.

This encounter served as a valuable test for Malta ahead of the UEFA U19 Qualifiers in November, where they’ll face Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan, and Czechia in Group 13. All matches will take place at the Centenary Stadium between 12 and 18 November.

📝 Match Statistics

Goals: 0–8

• 0-1 Apanasevich (2’)
• 0-2 Galyata (8’)
• 0-3 Gusev (37’)
• 0-4 Sakuta (58’)
• 0-5 Gubarevich (71’)
• 0-6 Gubarevich (73’)
• 0-7 Tkachev (75’)
• 0-8 Kazmerchuk (84’)

Referee: Anthony-Paul Vella (Malta)

🇲🇹 Malta Line-up

Carlos Camilleri (Kyran Massa 82), Adam Vella (Denzil Bugeja 72), Sheldon Borg (Jake Attard 82), Ben Gaerty (Aiden Agius 82), Malik Marwan Amin (Jayden Vella 72), Dejan Farrugia (Claude Mercieca 72), Cristian Vella-Gonzalez (Jack Camilleri 56), Jean Borg (Shaun Xiberras 56), Thomas Melillo (Luke Bugeja 72), Lyon Abela (Emerson Piscopo 56), Kai Bartolo (Denzil Muscat 82)
Coach: Vasco Regini

🇧🇾 Belarus Line-up

Nikita Matysyuk, Pavel Apetenok, Artsiom Akatau (Maksim Sakuta 46), Matvey Bokhno (Stanislav Kazmerchuk 53), Artsem Hrabtsevich (Aleksandr Derzhinskiy 46), Erik Mikanovich (Gleb Mishin 46), Arseniy Stanul (Timofey Tkachev 46), Daniil Galyata (Daniel Volskiy 46), Egor Molchan (Maksim Autka 53), Kirill Apanasevich (Sergey Zhivushko 46), Bogdan Gusev (Ilya Gubarevich 46)
Coach: Sergey Sosnovskiy