The Malta FA and Premier League clubs have agreed in principle to change the national squad’s training scheme following a lengthy meeting yesterday.
For the past few years, the national squad had three weekly training sessions at Ta’ Qali, one on Monday and two on Tuesday, but this will be replaced by a new arrangement which will see the players report for training with the national coach around eight days before an international game.
The new concept, which is expected to come into effect before Malta’s international commitments next June, applies to the senior, U-21 and U-19 squads.
Under the agreed proposal, the Premier League fixtures preceding an international date will take place in midweek to prolong the period of preparation for the national team by three to four days, given that, according to FIFA rules, players are obliged to report for international duty only four days before the game.
Branko Nisevic, who served as Malta U-19 coach and assistant to national coach Pietro Ghedin before taking charge of Premier League leaders Hibernians in the summer, has welcomed the changes.
“I’m familiar with the situation as I was coach of the MFA and now, as club coach, I’m on the other side,” Nisevic said.
“I believe the time has come to make a small change to the system. The MFA set-up at youth level, from U-17 down, is right as the players receive good coaching, have good facilities and are exposed to international football.
“But the training scheme for the senior squad required some changes. On Monday and Tuesday, I only have seven to eight players for training and it becomes problematic to do a proper session.
“I believe that the new proposal will be better for the clubs.”
The training scheme was discussed at length during yesterday’s meeting between MFA representatives, namely Bjorn Vassallo, the Malta FA CEO, Chris Bonett, the association’s vice-president, and Robert Gatt, the technical director, and top officials of the Premier League clubs.
The 2013/14 MFA fixtures calendar, specifically the importance of concluding the season in early May in view of the UEFA U-17 Championships which are being staged in our country, the introduction of a new BOV Premier League format next season and changes in FIFA’s international calendar were key factors in the stakeholders’ assessment of the proposals on the national teams’ training scheme.
From next season, the international dates will be double-headers. The plan is to have nine double-match dates over a two-year period, no one-off friendlies while the August friendly date has been scrapped.
Introduced in the eighties with the aim of raising the level of the national team in the aftermath of Malta’s humiliating 12-1 defeat to Spain, the professional training scheme has been tweaked several times in the past but the Malta FA had retained the concept of organising a series of weekly sessions for the senior squad players under the guidance of the national coach.
In the last few years, the coaches of the leading Premier League teams have expressed reservations about the validity of the national team’s training scheme in modern times in light of the improved coaching standards and facilities at club level.
It is believed that the MFA had planned to revisit the training scheme issue after the friendly against the Faroe Islands today week but Valletta’s decision to withdraw their players’ permission to train with the national squad after the end of Malta’s 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign looks to have accelerated that process.
Valletta’s position had drawn a terse reaction from the Malta FA who informed the club that their players had been dropped from the national squad for the Faroe Islands friendly but the association has since softened its stance.
As Roderick Briffa is employed by the Malta FA and Jonathan Caruana benefits from the 20/20 leave scheme for elite sportsmen, the two remained in contention to make the Malta squad for next week’s friendly despite Valletta stand-off with the Malta FA.
Ryan Fenech and Shaun Bajada, who were in the Malta squad for the final World Cup Group B qualifier against Denmark, were not expected to be considered for selection.
But it has emerged that, after yesterday’s agreement, Malta coach Ghedin has received the green light to recall the Valletta players.
The same goes for Malta Under-21 coach Ray Farrugia who is widely expected to name Valletta goalkeeper Yenz Cini and striker Llewelyn Cremona for the upcoming 2015 UEFA U-21 qualifiers against Poland, on Friday, and away to Sweden next Tuesday.
Vukanac set to rejoin Birkirkara
Nikola Vukanac will rejoin Birkir-kara after agreeing a new contract with the Malta champions.
The 27-year-old Serbian defen-der left Birkirkara after their Champions League matches against NK Maribor in pursuit of a move to a more lucrative league but this failed to materialise.
This led to Vukanac to reopen talks with Birkirkara where he is held in high esteem after helping the team win Premier League titles in 2009/10 and last season.
Vukanac is expected to resume training with the Stripes today.