England versus Italy, the ultimate World Cup match that almost all Maltese football fanatics would dream to have as a World Cup final, will be closer to reality, as far as names go, on 1 November, as two teams made of past glories will battle each other at Ta’ Qali.

In a press conference held yesterday, the two teams revealed some names that will be taking part in the match.

The England side will feature David Platt, Lee Sharp, John Burns as well as Ian Rush who will be coaching the side.

Italy will in turn be fielding 1982 World Cup winners Claudio Gentile, Giuseppe Bergomi, Paolo Rossi – who was top scorer during the same finals – and Giovanni Galli, as well as former Milan goalkeeper Andrea Pazzagli, former Inter defender Riccardo Ferri and former Lazio striker Giuseppe Signori.

Speaking at the press conference, Ferri showed off his fondness for Malta as he said that coming here was like “going back home”. He hoped for a beautiful game that would give joy and fun to the supporters. The former Inter defender said he was looking forward to the game and that the final score would not be important as long as everyone enjoyed the game.

However, fellow Italian Beppe Signori was not of the same opinion as he insisted that he was very keen on winning. The 1994 World Cup runner-up said the game would be a celebration of joy in which he would surely have fun.

The event is being organised as one of the activities of the Malta Music Festival, and a discounted family ticket has been announced whereby children will be allowed in for Lm3 (EUR7) while parents will be charged Lm6 (EUR14).

On 2 November, a concert will be held by the legendary band Simply Red. The organisers stated that the Lm10 (EUR23) tickets have already been sold out.

They also announced that GO will be starting an SMS and phone-in voting system that will allow the public to vote for the players they would like to see in their favourite team.