The national waterpolo team on Saturday will take on Belarus in the first leg of a European championship play-off match which will determine which of the two teams will qualify for the main draw of the competition, to be played in Barcelona in June.
Saturday's match will be played in Minsk at 5pm (3pm Malta time), while the second leg will be in Malta on 3 March.
The Malta team led by coach Karl Izzo arrived in Minsk late Thursday evening in freezing temperatures. Upon arrival the team visited the match venue – the University of Minsk sports complex pool, for a short training session.
Nicholas Bugelli will not be making part of the final squad in Minsk due to high fever and was advised by the Malta doctor not to travel with the team to Minsk. He has not been substituted.
Stevie Camilleri will captain the Malta team in the important first leg against Belarus.
The Malta team succumbed to consecutive defeats against Serbia, Netherlands, Greece and Croatia in its participation in the LEN EUROPA CUP last week in Split.
Ahead of the important first leg, Malta head coach Karl Izzo spoke with the Malta Independent in a very upbeat manner.
"The team has settled well in freezing Minsk - we are prepared and focused for a very tough game ahead. The players' condition is good except for Nicholas Bugelli who didn’t travel with team because of high fever. I want to base this away game on a solid defence method and it is important to make the most of goal scoring opportunities especially man-up situations in which we weren’t too good in the recent competition in Split last week. Team spirit is excellent - with a mixture of experienced players and young players we are determined to give it our best shot against a strong Belarus and qualify again for European Championships.”
The second leg will take place at the National Pool, Tal-Qroqq on March 3 at 4pm.