The person mostly responsible for the departure in 1964 of four local players from Maltese football for one season and a few more months, German Juergen Klein, is at present enjoying a short holiday in Malta.

He had selected four players - Ronnie Cocks, Edward Aquilina, Charlie Williams and Alfred Debono - in collaboration with the late former Sliema coach Janos Bedl, to join him in a training camp in Essen, Germany with several other players from Europe, particularly from Holland, Germany and also Yugoslavia.

He said: "The objective was to choose some of them to play in the North American Professional League which was due to start in the United States. As everyone is aware, all four Maltese players were selected and in the United States, they played for Pittsburgh Phantoms. Although they were a shy lot and missed their families very much, they did pretty well in that season. We were very surprised with them. They had been considered as amateurs. But they were all very skillful and goalie Debono was always keeping the morale high with his jokes. But he was very strong and had a good punch. Williams was also strong but very intelligent, while Edward Aquilina, perhaps the youngest of them all, was a fine footballer, though a quiet and nice man. Ronnie Cocks was clever, played with both feet and was always considered as a very good footballer," said Klein.

The German, born in Essen, said in those days, the American league was not affiliated to FIFA. "I had also played for California Clippers for one season before moving to Canada with Toronto Falcons. I can see we formed part of the pioneers of soccer in the United States. In the late1970s, when they affiliated with FIFA, they had many top players joining in and these included such famous stars as Franz Beckenbauer and Pele, among many others," he added.

Asked what he thought about the forthcoming World Cup, and especially about his native Germany, Klein said, he felt the team had no leader. "I do not think Ballack is the right man. There is no cohesion in the team. At present it is in a terrible mess, and if things do not improve, then I think they will not go beyond the qualifying round, even if they will be playing at home.

"As to the others, I think Brazil will again be a very strong team while Argentina will be a close second, if they manage to have all their top players available. From among the Europeans, Holland, Italy and England should be considered strong enough to provide a good challenge," he said.