National coach Dusan Fitzel will be seeking his first positive result this evening at Ta’ Qali when his Malta side takes on Bosnia Herzegovina in the first qualifying round match in Group C of Euro 2008.

Fitzel’s first top friendly was that played last month in Slovakia, where the team lost 4-0. Then the squad was hampered by the loss of several top players through injury. Even today, they will be absent again. I am of course referring to Birkirkara’s Etienne Barbara and Roderick Briffa, as well as Andrew Cohen of Hibernians. They are all still nursing injuries which have ruled them out of this match and that to be played on Wednesday against Turkey in Frankfurt.

Speaking to the press, Fitzel said he was convinced that the match against Bosnia would be tough. He acknowledged the fact that most of their players play for some good clubs in Europe with Sergej Barbarez of Bayer Leverkusen, Zlatan Bajramovic of Schalke 04 and Zvjezdan Misimovic of Bochum of Germany being their top players.

Others include Vedin Music of Italy’s Torino and Zlatan Muslimovic of Messina, while Mirsad Beslija plays for Hearts in Scotland.

The coach from the Czech Republic is well aware that at the start of competition, it will be much more difficult as all the the teams aspiring to qualify will be eager to register a good victory in such matches.

Fitzel is, however, hopeful that the Malta side will rise to the occasion again today at Ta’ Qali.

Fitzel failed to announce his team yesterday. “It is my policy to announce the team just a few hours before the match kicks off. But he is expected to start with a 4-3-2-1 formation in the hope of containing Bosnia’s strong midfield which was impressive in last month’s friendly narrow defeat against France (1-2).

While Haber is almost sure to be between the posts, the back four could be Ian Ciantar, Brian Said, Luke Dimech and Steve Wellman while Gilbert Agius, Ivan Woods and Claude Mattocks should operate in midfield. Lillestrom’s Michael Mifsud could be partnered up front by either Ivan Woods or Andre Schembri.

The team had a final training session yesterday evening at Ta’ Qali training grounds. This morning, the coach is to give some personal instructions to the various members of the team which he will announce this morning.