Buoyant Malta look to end with a flourish

Buoyed by Monday's 1-0 win over Iceland, the Malta national team have set their sights on completing their commitments in the International Tournament on a high when they host Belarus at the National Stadium today at 7.45 p.m.

Cleaven Frendo's winner for the national team, handed Malta their first victory in this year's edition of the quadrangular tournament and coach Dusan Fitzel will be hoping his players show more of the same against the physical eastern European outfit.

Belarus will be in no mood to give away any favours though as they are still reeling from their disappointing 2-1 defeat against Armenia on Monday that severely jolted the team's chances of winning the four-team tournament.

Belarus are currently sharing second spot in the competition with Malta with three points from two matches. Victory is a must for either side to wrest the title from leaders Armenia. With two wins in the bag, the latter only need a point from today's opening match against Iceland to secure first place.

Fitzel will have taken a lot of positives from Monday's performance against Iceland and the Malta coach is hopeful his players can build on that display.

"I was particularly pleased with the first-half efforts of my players against Iceland," Fitzel told the media after the match.

"Our aim was to press Iceland high on the pitch and I thought that they struggled to contain our moves in the opening 45 minutes.

"In the second half it was a different story. We lost composure as the players were looking to preserve their one-goal advantage. Iceland put us under a lot of pressure in the final stages but we held on for the win.

"Against Belarus I hope that we repeat the good things we showed against Iceland. We defended well but our movement in attack was not good enough... we have to be more precise in our passing."

This is the fourth meeting between the two countries at senior level with the former Russian republic holding an edge over the Maltese with two wins and a draw.

The last meeting came in the International Tournament of February 2004 when Belarus beat Malta 4-0 on their way to winning the competition on a better goal difference from Estonia. Moldova were the other participants in that edition.

Fitzel confirmed he will stick to his policy of rotating his players in the squad. Ivan Woods, the only player to have featured in the opening two matches, is unlikely to be involved though.

He complained of dizziness after a collision with an Icelandic opponent on Monday.

Goalkeeper Justin Haber (Haidari FC), midfielder Udo Nwoko (Leixoes) and striker Michael Mifsud (Coventry City) are all expected to be named in the starting formation after missing the first two matches as they were involved with their respective clubs.

Skipper Gilbert Agius, Brian Said and Aaron Xuereb, rested on Monday are all expected to feature.

With 79 caps to his name, Said is one of the veteran players in the Maltese squad. Asked to give his ratings on the performances of the fringe players in the tournament, Said sounded positive on their contribution.

"I think that this tournament has been of great benefit for both the coach and all players in the squad," Said said.

"Against Armenia and Iceland the coach fielded a number of players who usually do not command a place in the team. I thought they did very well in these matches.

"Even against Armenia, although we lost I felt the team had played very well and had we been more focused we could have avoided defeat.

"Our victory over Iceland has given us a lot of confidence. Hopefully, we can now extend that positive trend with another strong showing against Belarus."

Probable line-up

J. Haber, I. Azzopardi, L. Dimech, B. Said, R. Briffa, G. Agius, J. Pace, U. Nwoko, K. Sammut, M. Mifsud, E. Barbara.