Malta’s commitments in the Qualifying Group matches of the next UEFA U/21 Championships will kick off against Rumania at Hibernians Ground today at 5.45pm.

This will be the first competitive engagement for the team under the charge of Mark Miller after they lost to Georgia in April last year on a 4-2 aggregate in a double-header qualifying play-off, valid for the 2007 Championship.

Since then Malta had mixed fortunes when playing friendly matches as Miller opted to draft new players in his squad so that they would obtain the necessary international experience.

France, Wales and Bosnia Herzegovina are the other sides in Malta’s UEFA U21 Qualification Group.

There was a marked improvement in the team’s performance graph when in the last match they beat Sweden 2-1 in an international friendly. This was a result which boosted the players’ confidence, and if they can reproduce the cohesive play and fighting qualities against the strong Romanians a satisfactory result is possible.

As usual, support for the local team team is needed and the Maltese followers of the game are expected to turn up in good numbers at the Hibernians Ground to provide this backing.

Miller will select today’s team from the following squad:

Goalkeepers: Henry Bonello, Michael Falzon, Miguel Montfort.

Defenders: Andrei Agius, Steven Bezzina, Jonathan Caruana, Clayton Failla, Tyrone Farrugia, Roderick Fenech, Clifford Gatt Baldacchino, Justin Grioli, Edward Herrera, Kenneth Spiteri.

Midfielders: Edmond Agius, Matthew Bartolo, Dyson Falzon, Paul Fenech, Ryan Fenech, Thomas Paris, Karl Pulo, Julian Vella.

Strikers: Angus Buhagiar, Stephen Meilak, Ian Zammit.