Sammut, Barbara called up to Malta's 19-man squad

Kevin Sammut and Etienne Barbara, two members of the Malta U-21 team, were promoted to the senior squad for tomorrow's friendly match against a Balearic Islands selection.

The Maltese 19-man squad departed for Mallorca yesterday afternoon on an Air Malta charter flight. Sigfried Held, the Malta national coach who was due to fly in Mallorca from Dusseldorf late yesterday evening, had to dig deep into his resources as several key players pulled out of the trip.

Michael Mifsud of Kaiserslautern and Lokomotiv Sofia's Stefan Giglio were both called up to the squad but withdrew at the eleventh hour, citing injuries. Gilbert Agius is also absent as he is currently recovering from a long-standing injury while Valletta team-mate Darren Debono also misses out due to important family commitments. Daniel Theuma, also of Valletta, is suffering from a cold and was not in the 19-man party that travelled to Mallorca yesterday.

Luke Dimech is also unavailable as his Irish club Shamrock Rovers today play a league match against Drogheda United.

Notwithstanding the long list of notable absentees, Sammut and Barbara are the only uncapped players in Malta's squad. Though both players are widely tipped to graduate to the senior squad at the end of the current UEFA U-21 qualifying campaign, Barbara's inclusion comes across as surprising given that the 21-year-old Floriana player was only recently allowed to resume training with Mark Miller's U-21 team after he was suspended following a training ground incident.

The match against the Balearic Islands selection will be played tomorrow at 9 p.m. at the Son Moix Stadium, home of Spanish Liga club Real Mallorca. Real Mallorca played their first match in the 23,142-capacity Son Moix Stadium in August 1999.

Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera are the four main Balearic Islands located on the eastern shore of Spain.

Malta's squad: Goalkeepers - M. Muscat, S. Darmanin. Defenders - W. Camenzuli, D. Carabott, J. Chetcuti, I. Ciantar, C. Mamo, B. Said, E. Barbara. Midfielders - J. Brincat, D. Camilleri, J. Holland, M. Mifsud, K. Sammut, N. Turner. Forwards - G. Mallia, A. Mifsud, C. Nwoko, D. Bogdanovic.