Matthaeus seeks to relaunch Hungary's campaign with win in Malta

Lothar Matthaeus, the former midfield hot-shot who delighted his followers while playing in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich and Inter in the Serie A, yesterday arrived in Malta with the Hungary contingent for tomorrow's World Cup qualifier at the National Stadium.

More than three years have passed since the Hungary coach, now 43, decided to hang up his boots definitely. However, the German's football flair and resilience have not diminished as he seeks to rekindle hopes in Hungary's World Cup qualification campaign with a solid display and perhaps a sound win against Malta.

"No match is easy these days, but Hungary have no other alternative but to win this match," Matthaeus told The Times in fluent English.

"There was a marked progress in Malta's performances these last two matches against Iceland and Bulgaria.

"I was in Sofia to see Malta play against Bulgaria last month. The team looked compact and there was good cohesion among the players.

"As I said it will be difficult for us to win this match but Hungary are stronger so we should do it.

"Winning this match has become a priority for us if we want to stay in contention till the end.

"We had a bad start but nothing's over yet. There's more matches to play. We lost twice in three matches but we still have time to recover."

Matthaeus, who captained Germany to World Cup glory in 1990, does not have any selection problems even though he still has to finalise his squad.

"We have 20 players here," he said.

"Some of them are not 100 per cent fit but all key players should be OK. In any case we are taking no risks. We will take a better look after our first training sessions."

Asked which Maltese player does he consider as a main threat to Hungary, Matthaeus pointed at Michael Mifsud as the man to watch.

"We have to give Mifsud particular attention but in my opinion any player could turn out to be a threat on the day," the Hungary coach said.

"Football is a team sport but a player like Mifsud could always inspire his team-mates to bigger efforts.

"I've seen him before during his days with Kaiserslautern... he's a talented player no doubt about that."