Malta's national football team has its eyes firmly set on defeating the Faroe Islands and sealing promotion to League C in the UEFA Nations League when the two countries meet in their final outing at the National Stadium tonight (kick-off: 20.45).
Saturday’s 3-1 win over Andorra has catapulted the side into uncharted territory as never in the history of the Maltese game has a national football team found itself in a position to challenge for top spot in a qualifying group.
Malta will go through with a 1-0 or 2-1 victory, even if that means the two countries end up the group with 11 points each. According to the competition rules the direct matches between Malta and the Faroe Islands will be taken into consideration to determine who is declared winner of Group 1 in league D. The Faroe Islands would qualify with a 3-2 victory.
There is a huge level of expectation from the Maltese fans ahead of tonight’s match.
National coach Devis Mangia said the players should be proud of their achievements so far and has urged them to go onto the pitch and try and finish off what they had started.
“Our mindset against the Faroe Islands is quite clear,” Mangia said.
“We are going onto the pitch to win the match. I think that everybody in our group should be proud of our achievements so far. What they have achieved so far is something positive not only for the football community but also for the country in general.
“Every Maltese citizen should be proud of this team. But it is clear, that we have a job on our hands against the Faroe Islands. We cannot be nervous but only happy to be playing this kind of game for the whole country, and I have no doubt that the players will do their best to complete what we have started. But at the end of the day, it’s a football match and everything can happen.”