MFA president urges fans to help national team

Malta FA president Dr Joe Mifsud is hopeful that the national team will collect its first points from the qualifier against Cyprus next week and believes the public can give the players that extra push to win this match.

"I believe this game is our best chance to bag some points and I am looking forward to see a good performance from the team," Dr Mifsud said yesterday.

"I remember two years ago, the team had two away fixtures in Iceland and Denmark. In Denmark, we practically shook our opponents.

"Maybe that sprightly performance was down to determination and a will to defy the odds but our experience has shown that our players tend to rise to the occasion when playing in front of a big crowd.

"The support from the terraces is widely regarded as the 12th man in football and I believe it can also boost our team if the fans come to the stadium and support Malta, especially when we clash with opponents like Cyprus," he said.

"So far we only have one point to show, that of the U-21 team in their last match against Slovenia, for the efforts we put into the national teams. I am confident the players will seek to perform well against Cyprus," Dr Mifsud said.

Held's contract with the Malta FA only has a few more months to run and the team's failure to win points from six matches has led to widespread suggestions that the German coach will not remain at the helm after September's match away to Israel in Antalya.

No decision on Held's future as national coach

According to Dr Mifsud, the MFA have not discussed Held's future.

"There have been no discussions on Held's future because his contract runs out at the end of this qualifying campaign.

"Moreover, one has to bear in mind that the national team have no competitive commitments for quite a long period after the qualifier against Israel," Mifsud said.