As from today, Malta’s representative team will be engaged in international matches with a mixture of friendly and competitive encounters scheduled for the next 17 days.
The most important will be the participation in Qualification Round Three in Porto, Portugal, of the 2014 European Championship where our national team will be pitted against Belarus, Georgia, Portugal, Slovakia and Switzerland between November 7 and 10.
The top two teams in the group will proceed to the next stage of the competition.
Prior to this, our representative team under the name of Valletta WPC will be playing in the Euro Cup 2013-14 Qualification Round Two Group A which gets underway this afternoon at the National Pool and will come to an end on Sunday.
The other participating club teams are Dinamo Moscow (Russia), Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) and Dauphins FC Sete (France).
Malta will then play a friendly tournament where Karl Izzo’s side will be hosting Great Britain, the Netherlands, Israel and a Sicilian selection.
“These international commitments go to prove that the ASA is doing its utmost to give as much exposure to our national team as possible,” ASA president Joe Caruana Curran told a news conference yesterday.
“These are challenges for our players which will be sustained in future months and next year when we are expected to take part in the Commonwealth Championship in Aberdeen, Scotland.
“Prior to that competition, our team will be taking part in preparatory tournaments. This is essential for our players to hone their skills further while they are provided with the necessary international experience.
“The association is also embarking on a forward-looking plan, currently underway and designed to lay the groundwork for our Under-19 team players to reach optimal levels of fitness and technical skills and thus be ready to be drafted into the national team over a span of 10 years.
“Coaches, doctors, dieticians and physios will co-ordinate work and prepare dossiers on each individual player to be monitored throughout the years.
“In this way we will ensure that the backbone of a competitive national team will be formed. Next year we plan to start a similar programme for the Under-17 and Under-15 teams.”
Caruana Curran thanked all the clubs, players and coaches for the work they are putting in. He finally mentioned that his association is in contact with business entities for a support scheme together with the association’s main sponsors, Bank of Valletta.
General secretary Marco Manara, on his part, stressed that the ASA officials are co-ordinating their work to ensure the best possible preparation for all our representative teams.
National coach Karl Izzo said the club teams in the LEN Cup are very strong and the tournament should serve as a good test as will the international tournament starting on Thursday.
Commenting on the absence of certain players, Izzo said that there are family and study reasons behind the non-availability of Michele Stellini and Sean Gravina.
As for that of John Soler, while respecting his decision, Izzo expressed his deep disappointment at the player’s decision to relinquish his national team duties since last July.
“He is surely a very useful player for Malta but I, together with the ASA, could not accept the conditions he set,” he remarked, something which Caruana Curran also endorsed.
Valletta squad
A. Borg Cole, N. Lanzon, J. Gabarretta, T. Sullivan, M. Meli, M. Zammit, J. Spiteri Staines, J. Camilleri, J. Brownrigg, A. Attard, J.C. Cutajar, D. Zammit, D. Camilleri.
LEN Euro Cup – National Pool
Today: 18.00 D. Moscow vs D. Tbilisi; 19.30 Valletta vs Dauphins Sete.
Tomorrow: 16.00 Dauphins Sete vs D. Moscow; 17.30 Valletta vs D. Tbilisi.
Sunday: 10.00 D. Tbilisi vs Dauphins Sete; 11.30 Valletta vs D. Moscow.