This evening, Malta’s waterpolo team, led by coach Karl Izzo, will start their second adventure in the European Championship second qualifying tournament when they play Belarus at the National Pool, Tal-Qroqq.
For the next three days they will be on a mission to seek further progress in the continental com-petition when they meet Israel tomorrow, Ukraine on Saturday and Georgia on Sunday.
The pedigree of our opponents makes our task to earn a place in the third phase of the cham-pionships in November a stern one. Malta aims to gain enough points in our group to finish in the top six in the 17-team array competing in the three groups.
Izzo looks ahead with cautious optimism to our second stint in the championships after steering the team to a second place behind Russia in the tournament’s first qualifying round in April.
“The group is a difficult one and all the games will be hard to beat,” he said.
“We must be at our best to win points. The team is determined to build on the results and per-formances of the April tourna-ment. Every point counts,” Izzo added when asked about the chances we have of proceeding to the next phase.
“I see Georgia as firm favourites to win this group. They have four ex-Montenegro and Croatia internationals in their team since it seems to be ‘rather easy’ to obtain a Georgian passport these days.”
The national coach then referred to the other contestants including Malta.
“In my opinion the other teams are more or less on the same level. Belarus and Ukraine are young but strong physically, with many of their units playing top-level waterpolo in the Russian league,” he remarked.
“As for Israel, we have already met them in Denmark and finished on a par. They are also a strong and fast team with very good shooters and rapid swimmers.”
With regard to the national team’s preparation for this round, Izzo said: “We had a very good training match on Monday against the All-Star team in the local league. This was after prior sessions of usfeul preparation.
“At first I had 15 players but in the meantime John Soler has dropped from the squad for personal reasons.
“I am also very concerned and have to wait before selecting the final 13. This is also due to an injury sustained by Michele Stellini.
“Because of this I have called up another two players, Clint Mercieca and Michael Spiteri Staines, and my final selection will be made in the last minute when the players will convene at a hotel till the end of the tournament.”
On an encouraging note Izzo added: “The boys, captained by Niki Lanzon, seem to be in good physical condition at the moment with the team spirit adding to this shape.
“The backing from the Maltese crowd will certainly help us in our bid to obtain good results.”
National squad
Alan Borg Cole, Niki Lanzon, Steve Camilleri, Jordan Camilleri, Michele Stellini, Sean Gravina, Clint Mer-cieca (Neptunes); Michael Spiteri Staines, Jerome Gabarretta, Mark Meli, John Brownrigg, Timmy Sullivan (Sliema); Dean Camilleri, Matthew Zammit, Dino Zammit (San Ġiljan); Alex Attard (Sirens).
Programme
Today: 19.00 Georgia vs Israel; 20.15 Malta vs Belarus.
Tomorrow: 19.00 Ukraine vs Belarus; 20.15 Israel vs Malta.
Saturday: 9.30 Georgia vs Ukraine; 10.45 Belarus vs Israel; 17.30 Belarus vs Georgia; 18.45 Ukraine vs Malta.
Sunday: 9.30 Israel vs Ukraine; 10.45 Malta vs Georgia.