National team players during training this week. Photo: Joe BorgNational team players during training this week. Photo: Joe Borg

Mark Gatt, the women’s national team coach, has selected an 18-strong squad for the Aphrodite Cup, being played in Cyprus between March 11 and 16.

The players selected have been training on a daily basis ahead of the tournament.

Malta kick off their commitments with a match against Latvia tomorrow, a direct clash between the two nations currently sharing the 96th position in the FIFA rankings.

On Monday, Malta face hosts Cyprus, ranked 106th in the world, in their second group match.

Gatt’s girls will then play a classification game, depending on their final position in the qualifying phase. Their potential opponents are Lithuania, Estonia or Bahrain.

“This will be the last opportunity for our players to underline their form ahead of the World Cup preliminary round matches,” Gatt told www.mfa.com.mt.

“Furthermore, this tournament will enable our players to get more international exposure as we are playing three games in five days. Having all the squad together in Cyprus should help the squad members improve their teamwork.

“Finally, we hope to achieve further progress and boost our form and fitness for the World Cup qualifiers by the time we return home from this tournament.”

The majority of the players in the travelling party are on the books of Birkirkara and Hibernians with Rachel Cuschieri, who plays for Apollon Ladies in Cyprus, the only foreign-based player in the squad.

As part of their build-up for the Aphrodite Cup and the World Cup preliminary round qualifiers, against Greece, Albania and Kosovo between April 6 and 11, the national team played two friendly games against Lithuania at home last month.

The Maltese girls suffered a 3-0 defeat in the first warm-up but made amends after winning the second match 1-0.

The squad

Goalkeepers: Rachel Borg (Mġarr United), Janice Xuereb (Birkirkara).

Defenders: Rebecca Bajada (Hibernians), Stephania Farrugia (Birkirkara), Jade Flask (Hibernians), Ann-Marie Said (Birkirkara), Gabriella Zahra (Birkirkara), Charlene Zammit (Hibernians), Yasmeen-Marie Vella (Birkirkara).

Midfielders: Alishia Sultana (Birkirkara), Kim Parnis (Birkirkara), Dorianne Theuma (Hibernians), Shona Zammit (Hibernians), Brenda Borg (Mġarr United), Rachel Cuschieri (Apollon Ladies).

Forwards: Ylenia Carabott (Hibernians), Kelly Agius Pace (Birkirkara), Martina Borg (Hibernians).

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.