Birkirkara, Sliema look to reel in early pace-setters

Champions Birkirkara and Sliema Wanderers will be looking to reel in the early pace-setters when they face off in their first meeting of the 2006-2007 Premier League season tonight (kick-off 8.30 p.m.).

For much of the past four seasons, Birkirkara and Sliema had the luxury of being the two leading candidates for the honours but their duopoly is under serious threat this term.

While the two heavyweights have made a far from impressive start to the league trek, the likes of Msida St Joseph, Marsaxlokk, Hibs and, to a lesser extent, Valletta and Floriana, look better-equipped to put up a sterner challenge this time round.

Birkirkara's bid to make a strong start to their title defence has been disrupted by injuries but even so, their fans as well as the critics expect the Stripes to maintain a healthy, upper-part position in the standings in this initial phase of the championship.

With only six points gained from their opening four matches, Birkirkara will be first to recognise the need to avoid losing further ground.

Much of the same applies to Sliema who lead their impending opponents by a single point. Having lost out to Birkirkara in last season's title race, Sliema have brought in some new players in the close season to freshen things up and bolster their bid of reclaiming the league crown.

By and large, the Wanderers have made a slow, low-key opening to the season but they did raise their performance by a notch or two in last weekend's 2-0 victory over Marsa.

Edward Aquilina, the Sliema coach, will not make drastic changes to his formation but the injury sustained by Ian Ciantar during training with the national team, will necessitate one alteration in defence.

"I'm very satisfied with the team's performance against Marsa," Aquilina told The Times. "We certainly created more scoring chances than in our previous three games and the team played more as a unit. It looks like we're finally finding that balance which has been lacking in our team for the last few months."

Zdenek Svoboda, the Czech Republic midfielder signed this summer to fill the foreigner's spot vacated by Danilo Doncic, came in for special praise by Aquilina.

"Svoboda has had a very positive impact," Aquilina enthused. "He has given the team a new direction with his intelligent movement and vision."

Switching his focus to Sliema's impending clash with Birkirkara, Aquilina remarked: "Coming from a defeat, Birkirkara will be determined to make amends. Games against Birkirkara are always difficult but we're also looking to maintain our momentum."

Etienne Barbara's cameo appearance in the 3-2 defeat to Hibs provided the only consolation for Birkirkara last Friday.

Midfielder Jonathan Holland is in line for a return to Birkirkara's first team after he missed last week's match through injury but two of the 11 starters against Hibs, Lino Galea and French-Moroccan winger Hatim Sbai, have joined the team's casualty list. Left-back Galea picked up a hamstring problem while Sbai is nursing a knee injury.

Roderick Briffa, Michael Galea, Antoine Zahra and Adrian Ciantar are the other Birkirkara players still recovering from long-term injuries.

Having watched his team surrender the lead twice before going down 3-2 to Hibs, Stephen Azzopardi, the Birkirkara coach, has been devoting his energies to raising the team's morale.

"Our top priority is to regain the winning mentality we had last season," Azzopardi said.

"We have not made a great start but, apart from the well-known facts about our injury situation and the time required by new foreign players to settle in, I think we're still feeling the after-effects of the euphoria of our title success last season.

"It's clear that we are some way short of reaching the level of performance of last season but we're all working hard to get back to our best."

Birkirkara and Sliema have already met once this season, in the warm-up Euro Challenge Cup. On that occasion, Sliema edged their opponents 1-0 in a match marked by three red cards.

FIFA Fair Play Day

FIFA is celebrating the tenth World Fair Play Day over the week of September 18 to 24.

These dates have been chosen to coincide with another special celebration - the United Nations International Day of Peace. Held yesterday, the International Day of Peace is an invitation to all nations and people to honour a cessation of hostilities around the world.

In a statement, Joe Mifsud, the Malta FA president, appealed to players, referees, fans and officials throughout the country to help praise and promote the spirit of fair play on FIFA World Fair Play Day.

"Fair Play is essential to our sport and to everyone involved in it," Dr Mifsud said.

"We need to cherish and nurture the values of sporting spirit and work tirelessly to keep up the momentum. We are appealing to all football fans in Malta to help us celebrate FIFA Fair Play Day and the International Day of Peace successfully."

The Malta FA is commemorating the 2006 FIFA Fair Play Day by ceremonies prior to the commencement of all competitive matches played this weekend at the main local stadia.