Moldova tie 'very important' - Mifsud

Malta FA president Joe Mifsud has described the home clash with Moldova next Wednesday as one of the most important matches ever for the national team.

"The home qualifier against Moldova is shaping up as one of the most important matches ever for us," Dr Mifsud said.

"We have high hopes of achieving a positive result. Our ambition is to obtain a win that would get us closer to reaching our target of avoiding bottom place in Group C."

Moldova moved alongside Malta on the five-point mark after a shock win in Bosnia last month but our national team has played a game less.

A sound performance and satisfactory result against Hungary on Saturday (kick-off: 4.20 p.m.) would surely set Malta up nicely for the showdown with Moldova at Ta' Qali.

"But, before we start thinking about Moldova, our team has another qualifier coming up against Hungary," Dr Mifsud said.

"I'm sure that our players will try their best to obtain another good result."

After the two internationals in the next seven days, Malta will wrap up their participation in the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign with another double header.

A daunting qualifier away to Greece on November 17 will be followed by a home match against Norway four days later.

Dr Mifsud announced that fans will have the opportunity to purchase one ticket for Malta's remaining home qualifiers - vs Moldova and Norway - for a fixed price of Lm15 (West Stand C).

Around 1,500 Norwegians are expected to be in Malta for next month's qualifier.

The MFA president said that kick-off times for the final round of Euro 2008 qualifiers are yet to be determined as there is the possibility that the outcomes of certain matches would influence the fate of other teams.

During a conference call yesterday, Dr Mifsud gave details of the upcoming international commitments for Malta selections at different levels as well as UEFA appointments for a number of Maltese referees.

Malta's U-17 team will be taking part in a UEFA U-17 Championship Mini-Tournament (Group 11) in Tallinn, Estonia, between October 21 and 26. The other nations are England, Estonia and Portugal.

The national women's team will fly to Bosnia towards the end of this month ahead of their participation in a UEFA Mini-Tournament.

Hosts Bosnia and Luxembourg complete the three-team line-up for this competition.

Dr Mifsud and Tommy Restall, the head of the refereeing department within the Malta FA, also spoke about the association's application to join the UEFA Referees Convention.

On Monday, a technical panel will carry out a final inspection of Malta's refereeing sector as the MFA is highly optimistic that it will officially sign up for the convention at the beginning of December.

Meanwhile, MFA vice-president Peter Fenech provided an overview of the association's activities under UEFA's 'Unite against Racism' campaign.

Wednesday's home qualifier against Moldova has been included in the batch of matches earmarked by the Malta FA to raise awareness about the issue of racism.