Malta set off on its damage limitation mission in Denmark early this morning when the 18 players making up the squad for the arduous World Cup assignment, coach Dusan Fitzel and the other members of the national team's technical staff, flew out to Copenhagen via Amsterdam.
A sceptical Fitzel stunned the local football fraternity last Monday when declaring that, in light of Malta's perennial struggles when facing Scandinavian opposition, he'd be satisfied if our national team were to lose by fewer than four goals when they encounter Denmark on Saturday.
Fitzel's comments are also likely to have been met with a few raised eyebrows among the players but the coach will be secretly hoping that his statement will increase his team's determination to prove him wrong.
The Czech coach will also be yearning for a return to normality in so far as the squad's final preparations for Saturday's qualifier and the following one against Hungary are concerned after injuries to a host of experienced players disrupted the team's build-up, not to mention the unwelcome distraction caused by all the talk about the match-fixing scandal linked to the Marsaxlokk-Slaven Belupo UEFA Cup match.
Fitzel left it until after the team's final training session on home soil yesterday evening to name the 18 players for the trip to Denmark.
Initially, he had 31 players in his provisional squad but those under treatment for injuries were omitted from the list on Tuesday.
Marsaxlokk midfielders Kevin Sammut, Peter Pullicino and Gareth Sciberras and Valletta duo Cleaven Frendo and Josef Mifsud have been left out.
Veteran goalkeeper Mario Muscat is another notable absentee after he picked up a knock in Hibs' 3-2 win over Marsaxlokk in a Premier League match last weekend.
Goalkeepers Omar Borg (Birkirkara) and Henry Bonello (Sliema Wanderers) and defender Andrei Agius, who has rejoined Igea Virtus in the Serie D after Messina went bankrupt, were also struck off the list. So was Birkirkara's George Mallia.
On a more positive note, Fitzel will have been pleased that his five established foreign-based players took in a few training sessions at Ta' Qali before the contingent's departure to Denmark.
Coventry City striker Michael Mifsud, goalkeeper Justin Haber, who is on the books of Sheffield United, André Schembri, the Carl Zeiss Jena forward, Etienne Barbara, of German club SC Verle, and Leixoes winger Udo Nwoko have been confirmed in the 18-man pool.
Sliema Wanderers' forward Ivan Woods is back in the frame after a thigh injury forced him out of Malta's 3-0 defeat in Albania.
The Maltese squad will use the Phoenix Hotel as their base during their stay in Denmark. Fitzel is expected to conduct his first training session in the Danish capital this evening.
Malta squad
Goalkeepers: J. Haber (Sheffield United); A. Hogg (Valletta).
Defenders: R. Briffa, I. Azzopardi (both Sliema Wanderers); L. Dimech, K. Scicluna (both Valletta); B. Said (Marsaxlokk); A. Xuereb, J. Caruana (both Hibernians).
Midfielders: G. Agius, J. Pace (both Valletta); S. Bajada (Birkirkara); U. Nwoko (Leixoes); I. Woods (Sliema Wanderers).
Forwards: E. Barbara (SC Verle); M. Mifsud (Coventry); T. Scerri (Hibs); A. Schembri (Carl Zeiss Jena).