The Malta Football Association has employed a new coach for the national team in the form of Dusan Fitzel, from the Czech Republic.

He used to coach at the various youth sectors of the Czech Football Federation before agreeing to take up the Malta job.

He will also be the MFA's new technical director, taking over both positions from the German Horst Heese, whose contract had expired at the end of last year.

Heese had something to shout about as he left his jobs, having finished on a very good note with three creditable draws from the last four matches, two of which against two very strong opponents in Croatia and Bulgaria.

Those results have made Fitzel's job somewhat difficult, but it will also be a great challenge for him, as he said on Monday during the press conference where his appointment was announced officially by Dr Joe Mifsud, the association's president.

Fitzel now will obviously try to improve on the results obtained by Heese and he has already stated that in next Friday's draw for Euro 2008, he would prefer to have some teams which Malta could beat in the Group.

It is obvious - and it is something that we all wish - that he has already made a victory his major target on his two-year mandate. He has been made aware that Malta has only obtained three competitive wins in its European Championship and World Cup qualifying campaigns so far - a 2-0 win at home against Greece, a 2-1 win over Iceland at home (though played in Messina, Sicily) and an away 1-0 victory over Estonia.

Fitzel has inherited from Heese a rebuilt young team and he is now responsible for any changes which he might deem fit in the next few weeks as he would probably like to include some players of his own choice. This is quite obvious when a new coach is appointed.

The German coach had his own habits and I am sure that Fitzel will have his own as well. Although this will be his first ever experience at senior national team level, I am sure that his credentials will allow him to work with confidence in the knowledge that he might be able to improve local standards, not only for the international matches, but also in our domestic competitions, especially the Premier League.

The coach from the Czech Republic was lucky to have found the basis of the team solidly built around some experienced players, as was Heese's way.

Of course, I cannot say Heese was right in everything he did. In some cases I did not agree, especially when he stuck to his policy of omitting certain players whom I, as well as most other journalists, had deemed fit to be included in our national squad. We felt that with our own limitations, we could not afford to have players excluded from the squad because of certain piques or trivialities, call them what you like.

When I criticised Heese, it was because I felt it was in the interests of the national team. As a true Maltese, I wish to see our national team getting stronger and stronger and I still believe that we have to make the most of our best assets in local football.

Fitzel might have already been informed of the situation which existed until Heese occupied the MFA's hot seat. It is still early to see what he will do, but I am sure he will not allow anyone to influence him in making his choice of players.

Of course, he has had to start with the current squad which was Heese's selection, and in the present circumstances, it would have been an error from the Czech not to have started with it. To be fair, I never imagined such a move by the new coach.

What I expect of the new coach, if he is to succeed in his mission - that of improving himself and Maltese football - is that he gets closer to our football by attending Premier League matches more frequently than his predecessors - not just the top matches.

He must make it clear that the doors of his squad will be open to all players - those who show their true mettle consistently week in week out. Those are the players who really deserve to be added to the current squad to make it stronger than it is at present. And I firmly believe there are about three to four players who deserve to be selected.

Next month, Fitzel will have his baptism of fire in the international tournament against opposition yet to be named. Although I would be the first to say that I would expect nothing in particular at that juncture, however, a good start would help to build a very strong relationship between the coach and his players.

Welcome Dusan Fitzel. I wish you good luck in your new appointment in the hope that Malta will continue climbing up the FIFA rankings in these two years.