Fitzel satisfied with newcomers' showings

Malta coach Dusan Fitzel felt that his team did not deserve to lose yesterday's friendly against Iceland but the encouraging performances of his new players helped to lessen his disappointment at the 0-1 defeat.

"I brought many new players into the team today," Fitzel said.

"I was happy with certain aspects of the team's performance but was not fully satisfied. I thought we could play better and there were a lot of mistakes from our players. Basically, Iceland's goal came from our defensive mistake, so if we didn't give them a present, they wouldn't have scored and therefore a draw would have been a fair result.

"But, I'm happy because I've found three players who can raise the level of our team. Andrei Agius played very well, it's a pity that he made the mistake (that led to Iceland's goal) but that's part of football. Daniel Bogdanovic also proved himself and Clayton Failla had a very good game as well."

Fitzel said the match was probably Malta's last official outing before their next World Cup 2010 Group One qualifier, at home to Albania in February, but he's planning to organise a warm-up match against the Malta U-21 team in January.

The Czech mentor is also upbeat about the prospects of some of the younger elements in his squad joining a foreign club during the January transfer window.

"We have seven players engaged with foreign clubs at present and I hope we will have more going overseas in January because this is the only way they can improve. If they stay here, they will not progress.

"A few scouts were here today and we have already spoken to them about the possibility of helping some of our players move abroad. Generally, they are youngsters because in today's football, clubs are not that interested in signing players who are 29 or 30 years old."