Ghedin’s aim is to see his players leaving the pitch with their heads held high

Coach Petro Ghedin is not expected to make radical changes to the side that played and lost 0-1 against Armenia last Friday at Ta’ Qali as Malta now faces Euro 2012 finalists Italy this evening in Modena.

It is by far a more daunting task and one would be silly to expect the local boys to come out with a positive result against such giants in world football.

But it will be a game which will offer a very big experience to the boys in red. In fact, for most of them, if not all, it will be the first time in their career to be facing such a big team.

And after the Azzurri missed two precious points in their disappointing opener against Bulgaria last Friday (2-2), they will be expected to go all out this evening to return to winning form convincingly.

All Malta is asking of its players this evening is to play their hearts out in an effort to get away from the Stadio Braglia with their heads held high.

Ghedin concedes it will be no easy match. He said he is expecting a better performance from his players after the disappointing display in the 1-0 defeat against Armenia.

Then, the team lacked flair and punch in attack and never seemed capable of saving the match after suffering a goal which could have been avoided.

Ghedin is expected to retain the same players in defence and give the nod to Andre Schembri to partner Michael Mifsud in attack – on Friday Mifsud was an isolated man in attack.

Ghedin’s formation will likely be a 4-4-2 formation, but whether they will be allowed to stick to such a formation is still to be seen as the Italians are expected to attack right from the first whistle.

Under such circumstances, Ghedin might be forced to adopt a cautious attitude in the hope that his side will be able to contain its illustrious opponents, at least in midfield.

The back four should be Alex Muscat, Andrei Agius, Luke Dimech and Steve Borg. In midfield, it will again be Roderick Briffa, Gareth Sciberras, Andrew Cohen and Daniel Bogdanovic with Andre Schembri and Michael Mifsud up front, even if it is likely that Schembri will be forced to retreat to help the defence.

The starting line-up should not differ much from the following:

A. Hogg; A. Muscat, A. Agius, L. Dimech, S. Borg; G. Sciberras, R. Briffa, D. Bogdanovic, A. Cohen; A. Schembri, M. Mifsud.

For defender Agius, it will certainly be a day to remember. He is the only player in the Malta squad to be playing in Italy with Latina. It will certainly be the biggest game of his career so far.

The squad trained in the morning and afternoon yesterday. They are expected to have a brief session again this morning.

Malta is expected to have some good support in Modena. In fact, some 300 fans of the South End Core have travelled to Modena to watch the match.

Malta are certainly the great underdogs for this evening’s encounter, but Ghedin insists that his players are motivated even if they are aware of the huge task ahead of them.