Malta and Austria will be facing each other today (kick-off 6pm) in a nostalgic friendly match which brings back memories of what happened 50 years ago at the Empire Stadium, Gzira.
It is to be recalled that on 24 February 1957, the two countries played a friendly match which ended in a narrow 2-3 win for Austria, Malta scoring its two goals through Tony Cauchi and Sammy Nicholl in the final three minutes. That was the first ever match played by Malta in the international field.
Since that famous match, things have changed drastically to the better in Malta. Suffice to say that football is no longer played on that (in)famous sandy surface which had brought about several criticism in later years.
Today’s match will serve as preparation for both sides. Austria have been here a whole week for a training camp. They are not involved in the qualifying round of the European Championship because as one of the organisers, the team qualifies automatically for next year’s finals. Malta will be preparing for next month’s commitments against Moldova and Greece.
After the great win over Hungary in October, Malta had failed to maintain the rhythm in a friendly against Lithuania in November as the team lost heavily 4-1.
However, this match ought to see the Malta players fighting hard to emulate those who had provided so much satisfaction to that 17,000 plus crowd at the Empire Stadium, Gzira, 50 years ago.
National coach Dusan Fitzel said he only had three players ruled out – Andre Schembri who is still not 100 per cent fit after having been injured in the Lithuania match and Birkirkara duo Kenneth Scicluna and Etienne Barbara, both being treated for injuries.
He will not be announcing his starting line-up until a few hours before kick-off, even if he already knows it. Yet he conceded that it will not differ much from the team which had beaten Hungary in October.
From that team only Kenneth Scicluna and Andre Schembri are unavailable and their replacements could well be Roderick Briffa and Ivan Woods. Briffa is returning to the squad after a long absence through injury.
Fitzel has the following squad at his disposal:
Goalkeepers: Justin Haber (Marsaxlokk), Andrew Hogg (Pieta H.).
Defenders: Ian Azzopardi (Floriana), Roderick Briffa (Birkirkara), Ian Ciantar (Sliema W.), Luke Dimech (Marsaxlokk), Brian Said (Sliema W.), Steve Wellman (Marsaxlokk).
Midfielders: Gilbert Agius (Valletta), Roderick Bajada (Sliema W.), George Mallia (Birkirkara), Jamies Pace (Marsaxlokk), Kevin Sammut (Marsaxlokk), Gareth Sciberras (Marsaxlokk).
Strikers: Andrew Cohen (Hibernians), Michael Mifsud (Coventry, England), Terence Scerri (Hibernians), Ivan Woods (Sliema W.).