The South End Core is planning to increase support for the national team during the European Championship qualifier on 17 October at Ta’ Qali.

The organisation, set up a few months before the Turkey clash last month, was responsible for the successful and organised support at Ta’ Qali Stadium during the prestigious 2-2 draw against the Turks on 8 September.

South Core president Louis Agius told the press yesterday that they were now planning more support for the match against Moldova. He said: “We also tried to organise a one-day trip for next Saturday’s clash against Hungary in Budapest, but the airline company we spoke to asked for an astronomical price and that made it impossible for us to organise such a trip. The response indicated that we would have also filled up a second plane had the prices been reasonable.

“This disappointment will be partly compensated by the fact that the match is being transmitted live on Big Screen at Ryan’s Pub, Rookie’s, Summer Nights and Extra Time. In these places, those present may also win a South End Core shirt.

“But for the match against Moldova we are expecting the same support as that in the Turkey match, if not better. We have ordered a lot of Malta flags at a cost of Lm1,000 which will be distributed inside the South side of the stadium. Our jerseys are still on demand and we will be commencing the sale of tickets, at Lm2 each, as from today from several outlets. These tickets (for the South End side of the stadium only) will be available at Rookie’s, Ryan’s Pub, Summer Nights, Zmerc Pub and Extra Time at Mosta,” he said.

Agius added that they were hoping that the Ta’ Qali Stadium will again be filled on 17 October. “It will be a crucial match. It is a big test, perhaps bigger than that against Turkey. In fact, this time, the team will need every kind of support from start to finish. We have started changing the mentality of the Maltese as to how support should be at Ta’ Qali during the national team’s matches. Even when the team suffered the goals against Turkey, our support exploded. That is what our players need again next week,” he said.

This was corroborated by the Coventry City and Malta striker Michael Mifsud, who was also present for the news conference at TeamSport at l-Iklin. He said: “The support in the Turkey match was simply incredible. They certainly were behind us from start to finish and that is what made us rise to the occasion. We just hope to see the Stadium filled again with fans. We need their support.”

Brian Said, probable captain of the team in the absence of the injured Gilbert Agius, said it was a big honour for him to have scored against such a big side and had helped the team to obtain a fantastic result. My selection in Eurosport.com’s Team of the Week was another honour, which I hardly expected. It was something very unusual but really nice,” he said.

The news conference was also attended by Eman Pulis and Mark Muscat from the organisers’ side and Ivan Vella, national team manager.