Malta will be facing another tough time this evening, this time against Croatia – the last qualifying Group G match – at the National Stadium, Ta’ Qali.
It is a pity that some journalists, including yours truly, another local journalist, foreign journalists, cameramen (local and foreign), were not allowed to enter the Conference Hall where national coach Pietro Ghedin was addressing some other local press members, presumably because they had arrived just one or two minutes late. We were told that the Press official who had our accreditations had already gone into the building and they also told us that we could not get inside without our card.
Stadium attendants appeared to be embarrassed when faced with this situation. I even phoned the MFA president Norman Darmanin Demajo to inform him about what was happening and he seemed to be quite surprised that this had happened. I can never remember an occasion – at a cinema, in church or wherever – when I was not allowed to go in even if I was a bit late!
Finally, when the conference was over, we were all allowed into the Stadium for the opening part of the evening training session, even if it took quite some time to get the accreditation card to be allowed to enter near the pitch (on the track).
MFA Press officials could only say that this was because of UEFA security surrounding this encounter – something which left me completely baffled.
I wrote this short report as in my 49-year career as a sports journalist, I have never encountered such a situation.
Anyway, this report is being made thanks to the collaboration of my fellow sports journalists Mario Saliba (One TV) and Kevin Azzopardi (The Times), who provided us with some notes about what Ghedin said during the news conference.
The news conference
The Italian mentor said he was expecting another tough encounter this evening after the defeat against Norway in Oslo last Saturday.
Ghedin said he was well aware that the Croats have come to Malta in search of the three points. He said they know that they can finish second and earn an automatic qualifying spot if they win here and Norway lose against Italy.
The Italian coach said he believes that Croatia are a more formidable formation than the Norwegians. Their squad includes several top class players, even if some players, among them Real Madrid’s Luka Modric and Mario Mandzukic of Juventus are unavailable due to injury.
Ghedin is not expected to make any radical changes to the side that lost 2-0 in Norway. He did not announce the starting line-up, saying that he still wanted to assess the players’ condition after yesterday evening’s training session. Ghedin said he was proud with the players in his squad. He said:
“I believe they can show better form against Croatia if they are more confident and avoid committing certain mistakes. I am certain that the improvement registered is due to the fact that there are no fewer than seven players who have experience with foreign clubs, even if some of them only had brief periods abroad.”
The national coach admitted the team had committed some fatal mistakes on Saturday. “We cannot afford to make more mistakes. I will be having a five-man defence once again. Even without the two mentioned injured stars, Croatia are a very strong side by European standards. Their players are very technical and they are bound to create a number of problems for us,” he added.
Malta squad
Goalkeepers: Henry Bonello, Justin Haber, Andrew Hogg.
Defenders: Andrei Agius, Steve Borg, Ryan Camilleri, Zach Muscat, Alex Muscat, Justin Grioli, Clifford Gatt Baldacchino, Clayton Failla, Joseph Zerafa.
Midfielders: Roderick Briffa, Paul Fenech, Gareth Sciberras, Rowen Muscat, Bjorn Kristensen, Steve Pisani, Clyde Borg.
Strikers: Andrew Cohen, Michael Mifsud, Andre Schembri, Alfred Effiong.
On TV – The match is being screened live by TVM, starting at 8.45pm.