Malta Independent Online, Malta
Oct 13 2007

Football – Euro 2008 qualifier: Malta faces Hungary in Budapest

Briffa and Sammut or Pullicino expected to fill Agius and Pace roles
in midfield

Malta will be playing the first of two Euro 2008 qualifiers in the
space of five days this afternoon in Budapest where Hungary will be
aiming to taste revenge for their humiliating defeat against Dusan
Fitzel’s boys a year ago.

This time, apart from Hungary playing at home in front of their own
crowd, Fitzel also has a big problem in midfield as he has to
reshuffle this department due to the forced absence of captain
Gilbert Agius through injury and Jamie Pace, who is suspended.

These two players are obviously key players in Fitzel’s set-up, but
it is a well known fact that all the other players in the coach’s
squad are capable of filling those vacancies honourably.

In the past few days, it seemed evident that the favourite to take
Gilbert Agius’s role in midfield could be Roderick Briffa of Sliema
while Kevin `Viper’ Sammut of Marsaxlokk could well be Jamie Pace’s
substitute, given that he has more or less the same characteristics
as his Marsaxlokk team-mate – fighting qualities and packing a good
shot, even in set-pieces. However, I would not be surprised if Peter
Pullicino, also of Marsaxlokk, is given the job of starting the
match, instead. He was also being seriously considered by Fitzel
during the past few days.

If that is so, it means that Fitzel start with Birkirkara’s George
Mallia on the left flank of midfield with Ivan Woods, having
recovered from injury, taking his place on the right.

Last month, in the match against Turkey, Fitzel had made use of the
following formation: J. Haber, K. Scicluna, I. Azzopardi, B. Said, L.
Dimech, G. Agius, R. Briffa, M. Mifsud, I. Woods, A. Schembri and J.
Pace.

Today, it seems as if Fitzel will keep the same four men at the back
(Luke Dimech, who plays for English League Two side Macclesfield,
joined the squad in Budapest on Thursday evening) while also
retaining Michael Mifsud and Andre Schembri up front.

His starting line-up should not differ much from the following:

J. Haber, K. Scicluna, B. Said, L. Dimech, I. Azzopardi; I. Woods, R.
Briffa, K. Sammut (P. Pullicino), G. Mallia, M. Mifsud, A. Schembri.

This match could also produce more problems for Fitzel in the light
of next Wednesday’s home clash – perhaps even more important –
against Moldova.

In fact, several players in the Malta squad are aware of the fact
that if they receive a yellow card today, they will become
unavailable for the Moldova match as they will be automatically
suspended.

Today’s match, at the Ferenc Puskaas Stadium, formerly known as Nep
Stadion, is to kick off at 4.20pm. It is being screened live by Smash
TV.

The referee will be Karen Nalbandyan of Armenia. His assistants are
Armenians Gegham Vardanyan and Arshak Knyazyan. The fourth official,
also from Armenia, is Arman Amirkhanyan.

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