National coach Dusan Fitzel will be expected to line up his typical formation this evening as his Malta side faces Belarus on the final day of the tournament.

After a loss against tournament leaders Armenia on the opening day, the Maltese obtained an encouraging win over Iceland on Monday and therefore still retain a small chance of winning the tournament, of course, depending on the result of the match between Armenia and Iceland earlier this afternoon.

In the opening two matches, Fitzel did not make use of all his ‘foreign’ players. In actual fact, he only made use of Luke Dimech in last Monday’s 1-0 win over Iceland.

Today, the Malta side is expected to have Dimech, Justin Haber, Michael Mifsud and Udo Nwoko in its starting line-up as well as captain Gilbert Agius and vice-captain Brian Said, who were also missing from Monday’s line up.

Before the tournament, Fitzel had made it clear that he was going to use the matches as an experiment to try out some new faces while others had to justify their presence in his squad.

Today, it will be a good test for the Malta side, even if Belarus are not at full strength. The visitors had won their first match convincingly against Iceland 2-0, but then lost 1-2 to Armenia on Monday.

The Malta squad, at Fitzel’s disposal, is the following:

Goalkeepers: Omar Borg, Justin Haber, Andrew Hogg, Mario Muscat

Defenders: Ian Azzopardi, Roderick Briffa, Luke Dimech, Josef Mifsud, Peter Pullicino, Brian Said, Stephen Wellman, Kenneth Scicluna, Aaron Xuereb.

Midfielders: Roderick Bajada, Shaun Bajada, Cleaven Frendo, George Mallia, Udo Nwoko, Jamie Pace, Kevin Sammut, Gareth Sciberras.

Strikers: Gilbert Agius, Etienne Barbara, Andrew Cohen, Ryan Fenech, Michael Mifsud, Terence Scerri, Ivan Woods.

Armenia need just a draw

Armenia need just a draw against bottom placed Iceland this afternoon to win the tournament.

After having won their opening two matches against Malta and Belarus, the Armenians are hot favourites to beat Iceland and score maximum points.

However, Iceland would be expected to put up a strong challenge in an effort to win their first points or points of the tournament, despite having no further chance to lift the Cup.

Today’s programme

Ta’ Qali national stadium: 5.30pm Iceland-Armenia; 7.45pm Malta-Belarus