Silvio Vella, the national Under-21 team’s coach, has announced a new-look 18-strong squad for Tuesday’s friendly international against Cyprus at the Tedesco Stadium (kick-off: 14.30).

Having led the side to their best ever points tally in the qualifying phase of the UEFA Championship (11 points from ten matches), Vella immediately shifted focus to the next round of qualifiers which get underway next year.

On Tuesday, he will only have five players from the previous squad to rely on – Kurt Zammit, Jake Grech, James Brincat, Jurgen Degabriele and Joseph Mbong.

The rest are complete newcomers, all coming up the ranks in their respective clubs and the national teams’ set-up.

The four players failing to make the cut from Vella’s provisional list were goalkeeper Jamie Azzopardi (Gżira United), defender Iousef Meli (Żebbuġ Rangers), midfielder Dylan Agius (Pietà) and forward Jacob Walker (St Andrews).

In the qualifying phase to this year’s Championship, Cyprus finished bottom of Group Eight on four points from eight matches.

They drew 2-2 at Belarus before beating Turkey 1-0 away.

The squad

Keepers: Jake Galea (St Andrews), Philip Schranz (Tarxien).

Defenders: Karl Micallef (Pietà), Christian Degabriele (Pietà), Kurt Zammit (Tarxien), Dunstan Vella (Hibs), Daniel Buckle (Hibs), Sean Cipriott (Balzan).

Midfielders: Zachary Scerri (Gżira), Juan Corbalan (Gżira), Jake Grech (Ħamrun), Neil Pace Cocks (Pietà), James Brincat (Birkirkara), Dexter Xuereb (Mosta).

Forwards: Jurgen Suda (Valletta), Jurgen Degabriele (Hibernians), Joseph Mbong (Hibernians), Kyrian Nwoko (St Andrews).

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