‘We have to avoid mistakes made in home match and take our chances’ - Ray Farrugia

Chris Cassar from Romania

On the eve of the match against Romania, national coach Ray Farrugia said that we have to avoid the mistakes made in our home match against Romania and take the chances we create to wipe out that game in June at Ta’ Qali.

Malta will on Sunday evening face Romania in a Group F qualifier, with this match being only the second clash between the two countries where in the previous game Malta was beaten 4-0 by Romania.

Malta is coming from the 0-2 defeat in Oslo and Romania is under heavy criticism from the Romanian press for the home defeat suffered at the hands of Spain three days ago.

Speaking in the usual pre-match press conference held at the Ilie Oana Stadium in Ploiesti, Ray Farrugia said that the game will be another difficult test for the Malta team. However Ray Farrugia said that he is confident that Malta can give a good performance hopefully better than the Oslo performance.

He said that Norway and Romania are different squad and we have to have a Ray Farrugia said that at the moment Sweden are the favourites but five more games need to be played and everything can happen.

‘Looking forward to show our worth’ - Steve Borg

Valletta and Malta central defender Steve Borg gave his comments yesterday on the eve of the match against Romania. Steve Borg one of the defensive pillars of the team, gave a very good performance against Norway and should be in the starting line up on Sunday in Ploiesti.

Steve Borg said that the game is another difficult test for the Malta side but he said that Malta is well prepared to face this obstacle.

He said that the result of the home match against Romania does not give a clear picture of the game.

He said that Malta had good chances before suffering the first goal, and even in the second half creating many scoring opportunities, but he said the Malta team made some defensive mistakes which cost us the match.

He said that he is eager and looking forward for Sunday’s game to show our worth.

Like coach Farrugia, Steve Borg said that Sweden are at the moments favourites to qualify but Norway and the same Romania are still in the hunt.

different approach to this game. He said that Romania suffered a lot in the game against Spain, were the Spanish, like they did at Ta’ Qali had over 75 percent possession of the ball. He said that the game against Romania will be a different story since each game is different. Farrugia said that as already said before the Norway match, when we have two games in the space of three matches, it is imperative to make changes as fresh legs are a necessity. He said that apart from these changes we have some injury problems, with Zach Muscat and Paul Fenech doubtful starters for the match, and a final decision will be taken following the last training spin which was held after the press conference. Ray Farrugia said that we have to improve on the possession of the ball, a problem which was evident especially in the first fourty five minutes of the Oslo match against Norway. Asked by Romanian media on the favourites for second place in the Group,