On Wednesday Malta will be renewing its acquaintance with Iceland in a friendly international at the Hibernians Ground Corradino. The match is to kick off at 2.30pm.

It will be the 14th time the two countries are meeting since 1982 when our national team first locked horns with the northerners in a European Championship qualifying match in the neutral venue of Messina. On that occasion the Maltese obtained a prestigious 2-1 win.

Since then the countries met another 12 times between friendly and competitive matches, with Malta managing another two victories, both by solitary goals, first in the 1992 Rothmans International tournament and last year in the Malta International tournament. However, the aggregated records show that Iceland have nine victories to their credit with another match ending in a draw.

After four consecutive defeats in the World Cup 2010 Group 1 qualifying matches in September and October and in the wake of some disappointing performances, Dusan Fitzel will be using this friendly encounter to try and uplift the morale of the team, while also taking the opportunity to infuse new blood in the his squad.

With World Cup matches looming in February and March next year, there is need to look for new faces in order to give the units in the squad much-needed international experience.

The Maltese public has long endured yo-yo phases by our national team, with prestige soaring at one moment after a positive result backed by a sound performance, and dipping the next following a defeat resulting from a poor display.

It is everyone’s hope that Malta will go in a work-in-progress mode with a series of results and quality football which would see the team release itself from the shackles of anonymity and finally avoid ending bottom of the standings in group matches.

At the moment the team is eyeing a resurgence with a sound showing and an encouraging result against Iceland. The support from the stands boosted by the South End Core faction is always needed for the morale of the team.

Our players will be expecting the Maltese to provide this backing on Wednesday against Iceland. It will be another test for our boys in Red.