Malta will set the ball rolling in the UEFA European Championship 2008 campaign when they face Bosnia Herzegovina in a Group 3 qualifying match on Saturday at the National Stadium, Ta’ Qali, at 7.15pm.
It will be the first test for coach Dusan Fitzel under competitive conditions in the wider international sphere where Malta were drawn in a sufficiently hard group despite the lack of glamorous names.
The presence of current European Champions, Greece, and that of Turkey, Hungary and Norway, besides that of Bosnia Herzegovina, will certainly render Malta’s task of attaining pre-defined targets an arduous one.
We seek to break new ground in such competitions. That of avoiding the bottom place in the group as well as surpassing our best ever points’ total of five.
Competition also demands that our team’s results will have an influencing effect in determining the group’s eventual winners and placings.
Our results in the Germany 2006 World Cup group matches when we held Iceland, Croatia and Bulgaria to respectable draws, albeit on home soil, are still fresh in our memory and if our players can draw on their fighting qualities as they did in those matches there is no reason why the team will not attain its target.
This is the frame of mind we should be in as we tackle our first hurdle against Bosnia Herzegovina. Home matches tend to bring pressure to bear on our team since we rightly expect a positive result. Somehow, we have to play down that complex.
There is no doubt that our players will do their best and play with pride when donning their country’s jersey. While shedding any inferiority complex, they will take up the sporting battle with a conviction that a positive result is not beyond them.
We are sure that Fitzel will leave no stone unturned to tune up our players physically and mentally so that they can perform with dignity. Nothing will render more satisfaction than a positive lift-off in our European Championship trek.
The other necessary ingredient is the backing from our countrymen. And if we go by the massive support our team had when we played Croatia and Bulgaria last year, then we could well cash in on the proverbial ‘twelfth man’, so important to tilt the balance in favour of a particular team.
Our players need this backing. Technical and battling qualities, complemented by vociferous support from the stands, can do the trick.
Maltese followers of the game certainly have the national team at heart. All it takes is to put this affection into practice and turn up at National Stadium on Saturday.
ALEX VELLA
MFA Press Officer