This evening Malta will again come up against the might of England at the National Stadium, Ta' Qali, in another 2018 FIFA World Cup Group F qualifying match - Kick Off:  8:45pm.

It has been just past the year that Malta succumbed drastically 5-1 to Scotland on the same pitch on 4 September last year in their first qualifier.

Now another mammoth task awaits the locals as England step onto the National Stadium turf looking to consolidate their position at the top of Group F.  England leads the group on 14 points.

The Three Lions have ran out winners in the four meetings against Malta, scoring a total of 10 goals against Malta's one in the process.

The Malta Independent met up with Malta key attacking midfielder Andre' Schembri who, since his move to Apollon Limassol in Cyprus' first division at the start of summer, has been on fire for his new club.

His goals have been fundamental to catapult the Cypriot outfit into the group stages of the UEFA Europa League.

The much travelled Schembri terminated his contract with Portuguese Primeira Liga club Boavista at the end of last season due to personal reasons and quickly signed a two-year deal with Apollon.

He was soon in action as he scored the winner in his side's 2-1 Super Cup triumph against rivals APOEL FC early this month.  Schembri kept on his exceptional form by scoring four goals from six appearances in his side's UEFA Europa League early qualifying rounds, including the decisive away equalising goal against FC Midtjylland in the knockout stage which saw Apollon go through on a 4-3 aggregate and into the group stage of the competition.  Apollon's opponents in Group E of the competition are none others than Lyon, Everton and Atalanta.

Schembri becomes the second Maltese footballer to feature in the UEFA Europa League Group stage phase after former Malta international Luke Dimech.

 

Attitude

Schembri was quite brisk in his answer when asked about his exceptional form so early into the season "It all boils down to attitude.  You can be the best player in the team but if you don't have the right attitude you will find your way out."

Travels

Schembri is the most travelled Maltese footballer, pulling on a host of professional club jerseys abroad from 2002 to date.  He spoke about all this and the best memories to treasure from his travels. "When I was a young kid I always dreamt of playing professional football abroad. The reason I travelled to so many countries is that I wanted to play at the highest possible level. I started in one of the lowest leagues in Europe, Malta.  After some time, I accomplished my dream of playing in one of the best leagues in the world, that of Portugal's "Primeira Liga". And now I will also compete in the Europa League group phase.

I will always remember the time I spent at Ferencvaros, Omonia Nicosia, Boavista and now Apollon.  All lovely memories to treasure."

 

Can Malta shock England?

Can we really shock England was the big question handed over to Schembri. "I believe we can shock any team in the world. Unfortunately our country still has that colonial mentality complex. If we start feeling inferior from the English team before even kicking a ball then we have already lost. If we think positive we can overcome the English team."

 

Bottom of Group F

The Malta Independent also caught up with some Malta players and the main question attributed to them was why Malta is still pointless and rooted at the bottom of Group F after six matches.

Hibernians central defender Andrei Agius had this to say: "Our main objective remains that of obtaining the best number of points.  We know that this will be difficult as this has been our story for years but we have got to keep going, in particular when we play at home.  We have got England and Lithuania coming up at Ta' Qali.  I reckon the game against Lithuania will be very important for us to notch a point or more but we look forward to getting more points"

"I would not look at it as a disappointment not getting points to date because the level of our opponents in this group has been quite high.  Of course this is no excuse.  That is the position of our opponents; maybe we could have done a bit better against Lithuania away from home.  We have to keep working hard in order to achieve points in these last four matches."

"We have to get some points from the last four games," stated Malta's number one goalkeeper Andrew Hogg of Hibernians.  "All of them remain difficult games.  We have the Lithuania home game, which remains our main target to win some points.  Obviously we know that the next two games against England and Scotland will be very difficult but we know that if we tr,y we can do something good.

"Against England we have to give everything so that at least we can bring pride to the public."

Arezzo stalwart Zach Muscat also participated with his views about Malta's last four matches. "What is sure is that we can gain experience from these games.  We have to be frank about our bottom place.  We cannot change that and we have to look forward.  There is a lot of young talent coming up and it is important that we amalgamate together as a team and develop ourselves to give a real identity to the Malta national team which in my view is lacking at the moment."

Floriana's Steve Pisani chuckled when asked if Friday could be Malta's moment of glory. "England will be difficult opponents but if we hit form and are disciplined on the day, anything can happen over the 90 minutes.  You cannot predict what can happen.  You feel that air of disappointment knowing that you are still pointless.  There were performances where we could easily have got that point or two but you feel disappointed because when you look at the table we are still without any points."

Jean Paul Farrugia is also enjoying a new lease of life with Swiss second tier club FC Chiasso.  He spoke about life in Switzerland and the England big match. "I regard my move to FC Chiasso as a new challenge in my career.  It has always been my dream to move and do well away from our shores.  I do regard this match against England as another normal match just like any other.  I concentrate about what I can do myself and let my opponents think about their plans.  Everyone is saying that England is England.  Yes for me it is another match just like the others."

 

Who's next?

Pietro Ghedin's term in office will expire after these last four World Cup qualifiers and clearly the Malta FA will be looking into fresh ideas and a new face.  So the big question pops up automatically.  Who will be the next Malta coach? 

Clearly Malta needs a "new" motivator in charge.

Just like the English saying "We have to wait and see!"