Buttigieg names provisional squad for friendly against Macedonia

After their week-long training stint in Italy, Malta will be on duty at the National Stadium in a friendly match against Macedonia on Wednesday 11th August at 20.00 hrs.

This will be the national team's first test of the new season on Maltese soil before the two Group F Euro Qualifying matches against Israel away and Latvia at home during the first week of September. Such a match will be a further reconnaisance exercise for coach John Buttigieg and his assistant Carmel Busuttil to explore more tactical possibilities which his units will be expected to dovetail in.

As from last season Buttigieg opted to shed older faces and introduce new ones, in the hope that he could build a sound core which could gradually gain experience at international level. Wednesday will present the Malta technical team with another opportunity to gauge the players level of performance.

The provisional squad:
Goalkeepers: Anthony Curmi, Andrew Hogg and Mario Muscat.

Defenders: Andrei Agius, Shaun Bajada, Jonathan Caruana, Edward Herrera, Carlo Mamo and Joseph Zerafa.

Midfielders: Roderick Briffa, Clayton Failla, Paul Fenech, Ryan Fenech, Massimo Grima, John Mintoff, Jamie Pace, Kevin Sammut and Gareth Sciberras.

Forwards: Daniel Bogdanovic, Christian Caruana, Trevor Cilia, Michael Mifsud and Ivan Woods

Meanwhile, the Malta Under 21 side will also have their first work-out of the season prior to their competitive fixture against France in a Euro Qualifier in France on 7th September. Although failing to pick any points from the previous group matches, Edwin Camilleri's team only lost narrowly most of these encounters.

On Tuesday 10th August Wales will provide our cadets with their first testing match of the new season and a chance for the coach to experiment with upcoming talent. Entrance for the Under 21 friendly match at Ta' Qali National Stadium will be FREE. Kick-off is at 19.00 hrs.