Watching the last two matches of the national team, obtaining two ‘negative-positive’ results, if one can so put it, I think that the football-loving public should agree that our national team deserves our presence whenever it plays in Malta.

Football is what it is but there is now a greater probability that one will be watching a gallant team play, a team far more prepared than that of a decade ago, no longer playing parochial football but football that is modest but of international standard. This could be confirmed by the respectable comments of the RAI Uno commentators about the Malta-Italy match that was played in Modena on September 11.

The number of supporters who turned up to watch Malta vs Armenia at Ta’ Qali does not do justice to the effort put up by our players. Now is the time to really show our patriotism and not let our boys face strong rivals alone. And not only when they will play against Italy but in every game, whether competitive or friendly.

We should not be criticised as a nation that we prefer watching foreign national teams play to our own. That would be a humiliating criticism. Let us enjoy the game with our boys and share in their effort. Much depends upon the media: they know how to entice lukewarm supporters, including the undersigned, to go to the stadium.

The transmission of all local football games on TVM2 is laudable, except when the national team is playing in Malta. In Brazil, for example, where football matches are regularly shown on TV, they are not shown in the city where the match is being played. In our case that city is Malta.