National coach Pietro Ghedin has slected a squad of 25 players to resume preparations in view of the forthcoming friendly against Azerbaijan in Baku, and the World Cup qualifiers against Denmark and Bulgaria in September.

The following is the list of players selected by the national coach for the 14 August friendly (it will be reduced the 18 players a few days before the match):

Goalkeepers: Henry Bonello, Justin Haber, Glen Zammit, Nicholas Vella.

Defenders: Jacob Borg, Steve Borg, Ryan Camilleri, Jonathan Caruana, Luke Dimech, Clayton Failla, Clifford Gatt Baldacchino, Justin Grioli, Alex Muscat.

Midfielders: Shawn Bajada, Roderick Briffa, Andrew Cohen, Paul Fenech, Ryan Fenech, Edward Herrera, John Mintoff, Rowen Muscat, Mark Scerri, Gareth Sciberras.

Strikers: Daniel Bogdanovic, Michael Mifsud.

Having under our belt a prestigious away victory against Armenia last June which kick-started our points figures from the nil mark, Malta will be looking to keep up the positive momentum when they face the Danes and the Bulgarians in what should again be two stiff tests.

The squad, under the charge of coach Ghedin and his technical team, has been preparing for some time now in view of these two encounters. These work-outs are being stepped up to reach a peak in the coming weeks and especially in the wake of the start of the top league programme in August.

More physical preparation will be followed by technical sessions, with the choice of the preliminary squad to be made a few weeks before the team is due to play its matches.

As already pointed out, the Maltese will have to be on their best behaviour to fend off the challenge of two of the most articulate teams in Europe, who possess some of the best talent in circulation.

Early season inertia will have to be shaken off if the team wants to uphold their recently-acquired pride after their second ever success in a world-cup qualifier.