The national junior squad will have a training camp in Ostia in the first week of March as part of their preparations for the first qualification tournament of the European Games, being held in Baku, Azerbaijan later this year.

Head coach Karl Izzo has named a 14-strong squad for the training camp, between March 3 and 7.

Izzo and Adrian Cachia, the goalkeepers coach, are in charge of the technical side while ASA president Joe Caruana Curran and vice-president Karl Galea will head the contingent during their stay in Italy. Assistant coach Anthony Farrugia is unable to make the trip due to his commitments with Valletta in the Winter League.

During their training camp, the Maltese team will play friendly matches against Italy’s junior side, Lazio (Serie B),Roma Nuoto (U-20) and Roma Visnova (U-20).

The final 13-man squad for the qualifying tournament, to be staged in Malta between March 12 and 15, will be announced on March 10. The other teams in Malta’s group are Switzerland, Latvia, Germany and Great Britain.

Izzo’s selection
Jeremy Abela (Neptunes); Matthias Azzopardi (Neptunes); Fredrick Buhagiar (San Ġiljan); Luke Calleja (Neptunes); Nicholas Farrugia (Neptunes); David Fenech (Sliema); Joseph Galea (San Ġiljan); James Gambin (Sliema); Malcolm Manara (Sliema); Kyle Navarro (Neptunes); Ben Plumpton (San Ġiljan); Jacob Sciberras (Sirens); Jake Tanti (Neptunes); Darren Zammit (San Ġiljan).

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