National coach Horst Heese has made only one change to the starting line-up that faced Hungary in Budapest last Saturday as he announced the team to face Croatia this evening at Ta’ Qali.

Captain Gilbert Agius is back in midfield taking the place of Massimo Grima. The City midfielder and striker was ineligible through suspension for Saturday’s match.

His inclusion is set to boost the side considerably, especially after he had produced such a good performance in the August friendly against N. Ireland.

Today, Heese will more or less have the same players at his disposal, except for Luke Dimech who has been reluctantly granted permission to stay with his English club Chester, thus missing last Saturday’s and today’s match.

There is no doubt that Croatia will be a different proposition from the inferior Irish, but on Saturday, the Maltese could see for themselves what kind of opponents they will be facing today.

Croatia are, perhaps, even stronger than Hungary, but the fact that they will be playing away, will make it that little more difficult.

The Croatians are still in line for automatic qualification to next year’s World Cup finals in Germany and have come here with the sole intention of winning, and a single goal victory will also be enough for them. “We came here to win the three points, but we know it will not be that easy, despite the speculation that this is going to be a very easy match for Croatia,” said coach Zlatko Kranjcar.

He added that he respected Malta a lot. “I believe it will be a close match here. It will be tough. The Maltese have a good knowledge of the game, but we have prepared seriously for this encounter as it is important for us in view of qualification to the Germany finals,” he said.

He could not say whether Croatia would be able to qualify directly from the Group to the finals or have to wait and qualify via a playoff. “I will only be able to give you the answer tomorrow (Wednesday) after the match,” he said.

Asked what the absence of the suspended Tudor and Kovac will mean for his side, Kranjcar said this was not a disaster, but “we will certainly be missing some of the stability which we have built in the past few matches. Takic and Seric will be taking their places,” he said.

On his part, Malta coach Horst Heese said he was glad to be having Gilbert Agius back in the side. “He is a real skipper and is very intelligent. He is a valuable asset to the side and I am sure he will be able to lift the other players’ morale,” he added.

Kenneth Scicluna, the Birkirkara central defender, is once again being given the onus to replace Luke Dimech in the heart of the Malta defence. Undoubtedly, he and his other colleagues will have to work overtime to keep the well known Dado Prso and Bosko Balaban at bay.

Heese is not making other changes except for the Agius-Grima swap after Saturday’s match. At the back, together with Scicluna, there will be Brian Said and Steve Wellman while Peter Pullicino and Claude Mattocks will be the two roaming on the flanks giving a helping hand to the midfield sector and the defence.

In the middle, Heese will have Roderick Briffa, Gilbert Agius, Ivan Woods and Orosko Anonam, while up front, Andrew Cohen will be expected to play a solitary role though either Woods or Anonam will have the task of helping him whenever it becomes possible.

The line-ups

Malta: J. Haber, P. Pullicino, B. Said, K. Scicluna, S. Wellman, C. Mattocks, R. Briffa, G. Agius, I. Woods, O. Anonam, A. Cohen. Coach: Horst Heese.

Croatia: Pletikosa, Simic, Tokic, Simunic, Srna, N. Kovac, Babic, Seric, Kranjcar, Balaban, Prso. Coach Zlatko Kranjcar.

Referee: Athanassios Briakos (Greece).

Asst refs: Kostantinos Dalas (Greece), Simeon Tsolakidis (Greece).

4th official: Idannis Tsacheilidis (Greece).

Kick-Off: 6.45pm