National coach Horst Heese today will be naming his squad for the forthcoming two World Cup qualifiers against Hungary and Croatia.

Malta is to play Hungary in Budapest next Saturday and Croatia in Malta the following Wednesday.

Missing from the squad will be two key players – defender Luke Dimech of Chester, England, and striker Michael Mifsud of Lillestrom, Norway.

The team will sadly miss the two foreign-based players. As everyone might be aware, Mifsud was injured (shoulder dislocation) earlier this month while training with his club Lillestrom. He is not expected to return to action before the start of next season in Norway.

For Dimech, it was a different story. As reported earlier in this newspaper, the strong defender had to decide whether to stay in Chester where he is now commanding a regular place or come over to play for the national team with the risk of losing his place at the club.

Dimech had been told by club coach Curle that he would not be prevented from playing for Malta, but warned him that someone else might deputise for him and eliminate him from the team’s starting line-up.

The former Sliema and Birkirkara defender contacted Heese as well as national team manager Ivan Vella and some MFA officials and everyone, it seems, appreciated Dimech’s problem. In fact, he was granted permission to skip these two matches, although he has promised the German coach he will not be missing the final home clash against Bulgaria in October.

Dimech had been one of Malta’s best players in the recent friendly match against Northern Ireland at Ta’ Qali which ended in a 1-1 draw.

Also missing the Hungary match will be captain Gilbert Agius who is suspended. But he is expected to be named in the squad because he will be eligible to play in the match against Croatia on Wednesday.

Good news for Heese is the return to fitness of Birkirkara striker Etienne Barbara. The latter had missed the N. Ireland friendly and also the Stripes’ last two league matches, but is now eager to make a return to full action, at club and national level.