The Malta U-17’s will be in search of a qualification berth in the European Championship finals which will be held in Georgia this summer when they open their commitments in the qualifying tournament at the National Pool on Wednesday.

Karl Izzo’s boys open their commitments with a double assignment when they face Poland Wednesday morning before taking on Switzerland in the day’s final match in the evening.

Greece and the Czech Republic are the other teams in the group, with top two sides making the finals.

The Malta coach has named a 15-man squad for the qualifying tournament who have already shown a lot of promise during their recent participation in an international tournament in Slovakia last month.

In fact, the Maltese youngsters finalised in a commendable fourth place in the competition after impressive wins over more-quoted sides such as the Ukraine and Romania among others.

“This is a very important tournament for us as after the disappointment of missing out with our U-15 team we are determined to take this team to the Euro finals,” Izzo told the Times of Malta on Tuesday.

“I was very pleased with our preparations for the tournament, particularly with our performance in the tournament played in Slovakia. The team managed to overcome very strong sides like Romania and Ukraine which surely gives us confidence.

“However, these qualifiers are the most important matches for us and we need to perform on the day if we are to qualify. All the teams in our group are very strong and have some players who are physically bigger than ours so we need to stay focused and ensure that we play at a high level.”

MALTA SQUAD
Sebastian Busuttil (Neptunes); Julian Farrugia (Neptunes); Jake Muscat (Neptunes); Marco Rossi (Neptunes); Sebastian Stellini (Neptunes); Jake Bonavia (San Ġiljan); Matthew Chircop (Sirens); Lucas Falzon (Sirens); Gianni Farrugia (Sirens); Gabriel Melillo (Sirens); Benjamin Cachia (Sliema); Mark Carani (Sliema); Jacob Saliba (Sliema); Nico Schiavone (Sliema); Miguel Vassallo (Sliema).

PROGRAMME
PLAYED ON TUESDAY: Switzerland vs C. Republic 10-8; Poland vs Greece 24-6.
WEDNESDAY: 9am Greece vs Switzerland; 10.15am Malta vs Poland; 5.30pm Czech Republic vs Greece; 6.45pm Switzerland vs Malta.
THURSDAY: 6.15pm Poland vs Switzerland; 7.30pm Malta vs Czech Republic.
FRIDAY: 6.15pm Czech Republic vs Poland; 7.30pm Greece vs Malta.

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