National coach Horst Heese and his assistant Carmel Busuttil as well as national Under 21 coach Mark Miller yesterday named their provisional squads for the forthcoming 2006 World Cup qualifiers against Croatia (30 March).

Heese has a squad of 22 players and he will be forced to leave four of them out when he announces his final squad of 18 players, possibly next Saturday.

Miller has a squad of 26 players to choose from, although like the seniors, he will have to trim it by eight players.

The squads are the following:

Seniors

Goalkeepers: Saviour Darmanin and Justin Haber (both Birkirkara).

Defenders: Ian Azzopardi (Floriana), Roderick Briffa (Birkirkara), Jeffrey Chetcuti (Sliema W.), Luke Dimech (Mansfield T, England), Rene Forace (Valletta), Adrian Pulis (Hibernians), Brian Said (Sliema W.) and Steven Wellman (Floriana).

Midfielders: Gilbert Agius (Valletta), Stefan Giglio (Sliema W.), Massimo Grima (Valletta), George Mallia (Birkirkara), Claude Mattocks (Sliema W.), Kevin Sammut (Msida St Joseph), Peter Pullicino (Hibernians) and Ivan Woods (Sliema W.).

Strikers: Etienne Barbara (Birkirkara), Andrew Cohen (Hibernians), Michael Mifsud (Lillestrom, Norway), Jamie Pace (Marsaxlokk).

Under 21

Goalkeepers: Christian Calleja (Mqabba), Reuben Gauci (Floriana), Andrew Hogg (Pieta H.).

Defenders: David Camenzuli (Pieta H.), J. Mifsud (Msida SJ), R. Mintoff (Hibernians), A. Muscat (Sliema W.), K. Sammut (Pieta H.), A. Spiteri (Pieta H.), K. Spiteri (Hibernians), S. Tellus (Marsaxlokk).

Midfielders: A. Agius (Sporting Mascalucia), R. Bajada (Msida SJ), M. Brincat (Floriana), C. Cassar (Floriana), C. Failla (Hibernians), D. Falzon (Mosta), P. Fenech (Msida SJ), C. Frendo (Marsaxlokk), G. Sciberras (Pieta).

Strikers: N. Baldacchino (Floriana), T. Cilia (Floriana), T. Scerri (Hibernians), A. Schembri (Marsaxlokk), I. Zammit (Valletta).