Malta coach wary of Cyprus threat

Cyprus is generally regarded as an emerging football nation, one that has made giant strides in recent years.

As Malta braces itself for an away EURO 2004 qualifier to Cyprus in Nicosia on Wednesday, Sigfried Held, the coach of the Maltese national selection, is convinced that the Cypriots would prove to be tough opponents.

Held's caution stems from his experience of having watched Cyprus play a friendly match against their neighbours Greece in the island of Rhodes last May.

The Malta national coach was there to run the rule over Wednesday's Group One opponents who opened their EURO 2004 qualifying campaign with a 2-1 defeat to France.

Cyprus lost that friendly 3-1 but Held was impressed by what he saw.

"Cyprus possess some skilful players but they did play very well on that particular occasion. I still thought they were unlucky to lose to Greece but they paid the price for missing some open chances," Held told The Times yesterday.

Held's 18-man party that jetted to Cyprus on an Air Malta flight last night was announced after the last training session.

Left-sided midfielder David Camilleri and defender Ian Ciantar, both of Sliema Wanderers, failed to make the cut.

The withdrawal of injured Valletta defender Darren Debono meant that Held still had to drop two others from his 20-man list before the squad left for Cyprus.

It was only at the end of the training session at Ta' Qali yesterday morning that Held read out the names of the players who were called to the 18-man squad.

The absence of Debono, who could be out of action for up to three weeks due to a knee injury, and the suspension of midfielder Joe Brincat mean that Held will have to make two changes from the team that lost 4-0 to France last month.

Held said he is still pondering his line-up for Wednesday's clash but hinted that Daniel Bogdanovic may fill the void left by Brincat in midfield, with George Mallia also a likely candidate.

The omission of Ciantar may have come as a surprise after Debono had to pull out. The defender was visibly disappointed at having been left out of the squad for the third game in a row.

Held, though, reckons that he has enough cover in defence with the likes of Jeffrey Chetcuti, Daniel Theuma and William Camenzuli capable of filling in at centre-half.

Luke Dimech, now on the books of Irish Premier League team Shamrock Rovers, turned up for training with the squad yesterday after an overnight flight from Dublin.

He missed Shamrock's league match against Bray Wanderers yesterday.

Michael Mifsud, the Kaiserslautern striker, is expected to join his Malta team-mates in Cyprus this morning. Yesterday he played a couple of minutes in Kaiserslautern's 5-3 defeat to W. Bremen.

Stefan Giglio of Lokomotiv Sofia was due to arrive in Cyprus last night.

Held's Squad For Nicosia

Goalkeepers
S. Darmanin (Pietà); M. Muscat (Hibernians).

Defenders
J. Chetcuti, B. Said, C. Mamo (all Sliema); L. Dimech (Shamrock); D. Theuma (Valletta).

Midfielders
G. Agius, D. Bogdanovic, D. Carabott (Valletta); W. Camenzuli (Birkirkara); N. Turner (Sliema Wanderers); S. Giglio (Lokomotiv Sofia); Miguel Mifsud (Hibernians).

Strikers
G. Mallia, C. Nwoko (both Birkirkara); M. Mifsud (Kaiserslautern); A. Mifsud (Hibernians).