National coach Ray ‘Zazu’ Farrugia is looking for the first points of this campaign this afternoon when his boys take on Greece in a UEFA European Championship qualifier.

The match is being played at the National Stadium, Ta’ Qali and kicks off at 4pm.

It is the fourth match for the locals after suffering three defeats in their opening three matches – 2-0 against Poland, 4-0 against Turkey and 5-0 against Greece.

Addressing a press conference yesterday afternoon, Farrugia spoke mainly about the last match against Greece saying boldly that it was a match Malta should have won. He said: “The result – a 5-0 defeat – is far from the truth. At the interval, considering what happened on the field of play, we should have been 3-1 up. We even lost a number of chances in the second half. But we committed a lot of mistakes and we were punished severely. If one watches the match, one will easily come to the conclusion that all the five goals could have been avoided.

“This time round, we have worked hard to rectify those mistakes during the past few days. We analysed the match in Greece and I made it clear to the boys that these opponents are not unbeatable. I am looking forward to this match as I am confident that we can upstage them and win our first point or points in this campaign.”

Farrugia’s optimism lies on the fact that in Greece he had a number of players missing. “Six of those will be returning to the side for this match. This apart, from playing at home, are a source of motivation for the other members in the squad. We have seen Greece playing twice and I believe we can achieve a positive result at Ta’ Qali,” said Farrugia.

Despite his positive approach to the match and his optimism, Farrugia was also cautious, conceding that the match will not be easy. “For us it is always difficult, but not impossible. In the last two matches, we performed badly. Those were very poor performances. But if we show the concentration needed for such matches, I am sure we will do much better in this match.” he said.

And he added: “Of course, we also have to overcome another problem – we are not scoring goals. In Greece we missed at least four clear goal chances. But I hope we will be able to remedy the situation here. I am confident today’s match will be a different story.”

Asked how our players can improve, Farrugia remarked that only if our players earned contracts to play abroad would they be able to show improvement. “Our league football is of a very low standard, our football is slow. If they go abroad, they will play in a higher level. I am trying hard to find clubs in Australia for some of my players. If that materialises, I am certain that their levels will improve considerably,” he stated.

Farrugia also announced his starting line-up which will be the following:

Y. Cini, C. Grech, Z. Muscat, D. Zerafa, R, Camenzuli, B. Kristensen, C. Borg, A. Azzopardi, S. Pisani, J. Pisani and JP Farrugia.

Also addressing the press were Zach Muscat, one of those who missed the match in Greece, and Bjorn Kristensen.

Both are of the opinion that a positive result this afternoon is not out of bounds. They both agreed that Greece were the weakest of the three teams they have played against so far, even if Muscat said he still has to face Greece for a first time.

For the record, Poland lead Group 7 with nine points from four matches. They are followed by Turkey with seven from four, Sweden four from three, Greece three from two. Malta are at the bottom with no points, scoring no goals and suffering 11.