National coach Michele Marcolini wants a brave performance from the national team against North Macedonia on Thursday at the Toshe Proeski National Arena in Skopje.

For Michele Marcolini this will be his first match at the helm of the national team after taking over from Devis Mangia. Marcolini said that there will be no drastic changes from the side he inherited from Mangia as a lot of good work has been carried by his predecessor.

Marcolini thanked the MFA for giving him this opportunity to manage the national team. He acknowledged that it is a small team from a small nation but he will give his all to make something important with the national team.

Marcolini said that he is satisfied with the work carried out so far with the players during the training camp. He said that the players are working well and he has a very good group of players. He said that most probably this is the most difficult group of the lot, with the likes of England and Italy also in the group.

However Marcolini was confident that if everyone works hard the team can obtain something important from this group. Marcolini hopes that Malta will give a good performance and was confident of that.

Veteran defender Steve Borg was also present for the press conference and said the players are looking forward to give their all in the forthcoming matches. He said the players are focused on the match against Macedonia and then start thinking about the match against Italy, a match that everyone looks forward to. He said that there is a good atmosphere inside the dressing and all players are looking forward to give a good performance in this first match of the group.

Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina