Michael Mifsud suffers broken nose but included in squad

Kaiserslautern striker Michael Mifsud suffered a broken nose in last Tuesday's 2-0 defeat to Inter at the National Stadium. The former Sliema Wanderers striker was taken off by Malta coach Sigfried Held after he sustained his injury in a tussle with an opponent.

Despite this setback, Mifsud was named in Malta's 18-man squad for Saturday's EURO 2004 qualifier in Slovenia but he will need an operation in the near future to heal the injury. Mifsud has already suffered the same injury on two previous occasions in his playing career.

Mifsud was one of five strikers selected by Held for the Slovenia match at Ljubljana's Central Stadium (kick-off 8.15 p.m.). The German coach announced his 18-man party after a light training session yesterday morning, hours before the squad's departure to Ljubljana on an Air Malta chartered flight.

David Camilleri, who was shortlisted for the MFA XI-Inter friendly, has pulled out due to illness. The Sliema Wanderers midfielder did not take part in Tuesday's match.

The other players who failed to make the cut were Jonathan Holland, Malcolm Licari, Joe Brincat, who is one cap short of 100 appearances for the national team and Carlo Mamo. Mamo, still serving a doping suspension, was controversially named in Malta's 18-man squad for the recent friendly match against Macedonia but has been omitted from the list for the Slovenia match.

Held will definitely urge his players to make up for their disappointing outing against Macedonia, who beat our team 5-0 in a friendly match two weeks ago.

Their performance against Inter represented an improvement from that Macedonia friendly, raising hopes that the Maltese team can give more-quoted opponents a tough time if they work hard for each other. However, their profligacy remains a major problem as on Tuesday, Held's men failed to convert one of the many chances that came their way.

Injured Sciberras pulls out

Malta's U-21 team will also play their first competitive match in the UEFA U-21 championship qualifying campaign tomorrow against Slovenia. Coach Mark Miller announced his 18-man squad on Tuesday night.

Pietà Hotspurs defender Gareth Sciberras missed out on inclusion due to injury. His void was filled by Nicolo Baldacchino of Floriana.

Held's squad...

Goalkeepers - S. Darmanin, M. Muscat. Defenders - D. Carabott, J. Chetcuti, I. Ciantar, D. Debono, L. Dimech, B. Said.

Midfielders - D. Theuma, G. Agius, W. Camenzuli, S. Giglio, N. Turner.

Strikers - D. Bogdanovic, G. Mallia, M. Mifsud, A. Mifsud, C. Nwoko.

Slovenia without Ceh

Slovenia will have to cope without midfield player Nastja Ceh for Saturday's qualifier against Malta. Ceh, who plays for Club Brugge, is suspended for the game while Hapoel Tel Aviv striker Milan Osterc was not selected in Bojan Prasnikar's squad.

Zlatko Zahovic is also in the squad, after renouncing his international retirement.

Squad: Goalkeepers: M. Dabanovic (Lokeren), M. Simeunovic (O. Nicosia). Defenders: S. Bulajic (FSV Mainz), F. Cipot (Maribor), A. Knavs (Kaiserslautern), M. Mavric (Gorica), M. Vugdalic (Maribor).

Midfielders: M. Acimovic (Tottenham), S. Filekovic (Maribor), S. Gajser (O. Nicosia), A. Karic (Ipswich), M. Pavlin (Porto), A. Radosavljevic (S. Jaroslavi), G. Sukalo (Unterhaching), Z. Zahovic (Benfica), A. Zlogar (Olimpija Ljubljana). Forwards: S. Cimirotic (Lecce), P. Ipavec (Koper), E. Rakovic (Maribor), E. Siljak (Panionios).