Malta’s 8-0 thrashing at the hands of the Netherlands is, sadly, not a massive outlier for local football. 

But for the Dutch, the walloping was an opportunity to avenge a match that took place 41 years ago in Seville.

“Is that the son?” Dutch national team manager Ronald Koeman said when asked about Malta’s national team goalkeeper Harry Bonello in a press conference ahead of the match. “Then I won’t say anything…”

In December 1983, the Netherlands beat Malta 5-0 with a young Koeman starring in midfield. The victory meant they were all but assured a spot in the following year’s European Championship finals, to be held in France.     

For them to fall short, Malta would have to lose by an 11-goal margin to Spain five days later. Shockingly, that’s what they did. And at the heart of that debacle was John Bonello, Henry’s father.

Bonello was the Maltese national team goalkeeper and had scoffed that Spain “couldn’t score 11 goals against a team of children”. In the end, they scored 12, against him and his colleagues. 

That debacle – a 12-1 defeat to Spain at Seville – remains Malta’s biggest-ever defeat to this day. Spanish football aficionados recall it as one of the greatest-ever matches in Spain’s footballing history.

Their Dutch counterparts remain convinced to this day that the match was rigged, with the Dutch FA having claimed – without proof – that Bonello was heard saying “**** the Dutch, Spain is going to France”. 

Some Maltese players on that day have since claimed they were drugged with poisoned lemons at halftime. But a Malta FA inquiry after the match found no evidence of malfeasance on either side, instead concluding that players were tired and lacked adequate training facilities. 

John Bonello remained infamous across the Netherlands and Spain long after he hung up his boots: in 2008 he starred in a Spanish commercial for Amstel lager in which people hailed him as a “legend” for that 1983 performance. 

Amstel, somewhat ironically, is a Dutch beer owned by the Amsterdam-based mega-brewer Heineken N.V.

Dutch talk up parallels  

Ahead of Tuesday’s World Cup 2026 qualifier, Dutch sports websites and magazines were filled with stories recalling the 1983 disaster and the curious serendipity of Malta’s keeper being the son of the man an entire generation of Dutch cursed 41 years ago.

Dutch media reported that Bonello (Junior) unsurprisingly declined interview requests ahead of the match.

So when Koeman was asked about his memories of Malta and the team’s current keeper during a press conference ahead of Tuesday’s match, he chose to reply diplomatically.

“He has the same surname. Is he related?” Koeman asked when Bonello’s name was put to him. “He’s his son? OK. Then I’ll say no more,” he continued with a smile.

Koeman went on to say he no longer harbours any feelings of revenge towards Malta.

His team’s performance on the night suggested otherwise.

The Netherlands scored two in the first 20 minutes and closed the half 3-0 up.

Dutch pundit and former international Rafael van der Vaart was withering in his halftime assessment.

“It’s nice that Malta is trying to play football. There’s just one problem: they can’t play football,” Dutch broadcaster NOS reported him as saying.

The second half was even worse: the Netherlands put five more past Malta and Bonello.

Malta goes into the summer break dead last in Group G of the qualifiers, with one point after four matches. Their next match is away to Lithuania on September 4.

The Netherlands made it two wins out of two. “Lots of goals, good game and we kept a clean sheet again,” captain Virgil van Dijk said after the match. “And now, vacation.”