Malta coach Tom Saintfiet wants his players to believe more in their qualities ahead of Monday's friendly match against Finland at the Gloria Sports Arena in Belek, Turkey (kick-off 18.00 - Malta time).
"We need to believe in our own qualities, we have to play our own game, more than we did against Luxembourg, and hopefully the players will get rewarded with a result," Saintfiet told www.mfa.com.mt.
"Even against Luxembourg, we could have won the game had we taken those two opportunities with Andrè Schembri and Paul Fenech... it wouldn't have been a deserved win but a draw would have been possible and it's important for our team to get some good results.
"Hopefully we can do that against Finland."
The Belgian admitted that the last-minute defeat to Luxembourg was a psychological blow but he is backing his players to bounce back from that upset with a stronger showing against Finland.
"After the Luxembourg game on Thursday, there was a low-key atmosphere, the feeling in the dressing room was terrible," Saintfiet said.
"It was like that in the evening and the morning after, because it (the stoppage-time goal) was a cold shower.
"After that we started building up the atmosphere.
"The focus was first to get the minds back in a positive way.
"The infrastructure here in Turkey is top, perfect organisation and everything is going well.
"The group have started to believe again in their chances. We have swallowed the disappointment of the Luxembourg game, everyone is looking forward to getting a good performance here."
USEFUL TESTS
The friendly against Finland is part of Malta's preparations for the inaugural UEFA Nations League, starting in September.
The Malta squad have now been together since last Monday with Saintfiet stressing that these training camps and friendlies are essential for the team to gel and move forward.
"We don't have much time to train during the year," the Malta coach said.
"In the past, four to six years ago, there was the scheme and the players trained three to four teams every week.
"We have to use these friendlies and training camps to optimise our work as this is our only chance to work with the players.
"Hopefully we can benefit from spending more time together as a squad and playing the second game where we have to improve our performance and result... it waS a cold shower to lose in the 93rd minute against Luxembourg."
The match against Finland, ranked 68th by FIFA, promises to be another difficult test for Malta but Saintfiet remains upbeat.
"Finland are ranked higher (than Luxembourg), and except for four players, all the others are professionals playing abroad," Saintfiet said.
"Finland are a very decent team, they have a lot of players playing in the English league, in the German Bundesliga, for Bayer Leverkusen, in Scandinavia, Stockholm (Sweden), Brondby (Denmark), they have playes in the United States and Russia, all over Europe.
"They are a physically strong team.
"I hope against Finland, who usually play a flat 4-4-2,we can play our game and can create more offensive chances."
Saintfiet must make at least one change from the Luxembourg friendly after central defender Zach Muscat suffered a knee injury.
Jean Borg, who made his bow for Malta in the Luxembourg match, has rejoined the senior squad after Muscat's withdrawal prompted Saintfiet to keep the young Valletta defender who had been due to revert to Under-21 duty.
Hogg targets improved performance against Finland
Goalkeeper Andrew Hogg hopes that Malta will channel their disappointment at their last-gasp defeat to Luxembourg into a tenacious performance in the friendly match against Finland at the Gloria Sports Arena in Belek on Monday.
The Maltese team saw their boid efforts undone by a stoppage-time goal in Thursday’s friendly against Luxembourg at the National Stadium but Hogg prefers to focus on the positives.
“We need to focus on the positives,” Hogg told www.mfa.com.mt.
Conceding a very late goal was very disappointing but we need learn from the negative aspects and move on. We are now concentrating on the Finland friendly and everyone is looking forward to it.”
The friendlies against Luxembourg and Finland are part of Malta’s build-up for the inaugural UEFA Nations League.
Malta will face Azerbaijan, Faroe Islands and Kosovo with two group matches played in the space of three days every month between September and November.
“This is a useful test for us... these friendlies are important for our preparations for the UEFA Nations League,” Hogg said.
“They give us the opportunity to gauge ourselves against opponents of a similar level to those we’re going to face in this competition.”
Hogg is optimistic that Malta can produce an improved performance against Finland on Monday.
“I’m optimistic that we can have a better performance against Finland, we tend to play better in the second match when we have a double header,” the Hibernians goalkeeper said.
“Probably it’s because we adapt better to the rhythm and tempo of international football after the first game.
“We also need to keep in mind that these are friendlies and I assume that the coach will be trying some new things.
“The performance is important but we also want to obtain a positive result.”
MALTA SQUAD IN BELEK
Meanwhile, the Malta squad held a light training session at the Gloria Sports Complex on Saturday morning.
All the players took part in the first part of the session which was led by Luca Pagani, Malta’s physical trainer.
The players who started Thursday’s friendly then had a recovery session in the hotel’s sports centre while the other members of the squad continued to train on the pitch under the supervision of national coach Tom Saintfiet, assistant Ray Farrugia and goalkeepers’ coach Charles Sciberras.
Defender Jean Borg joined up with his international team-mates at their Belek hotel on Saturday evening after being recalled to the squad following Zach Muscat’s withdrawal due to injury.