Juve’s U-19 team are to meet Malta’s U-21 national side in a friendly match on August 9.
The Times has learnt that the Malta FA have agreed terms with Juventus to host their U-19 squad for four days with official confirmation of the friendly expected soon.
Malta’s U-21 squad will resume their preparations for their upcoming UEFA U-21 Group Two commitments on Monday and the August 9 friendly is seen as an important part of their build-up for the home qualifiers against Slovenia (Sept. 1) and Finland (Sept. 6).
There is a renewed sense of enthusiasm for Malta U-21 after Ray Farrugia’s boys kicked off their 2013 UEFA Championship campaign in extraordinary fashion, gaining four points from their opening two away games after a goalless draw with Finland and a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Lithuania.
Malta’s exploits earned them prime exposure on UEFA’s official website as a picture of Rowen Muscat celebrating his goal in the 1-1 friendly draw against Monte-negro, taken by Domenic Aquilina, accompanies a round-up of the 2013 UEFA Championship quali-fying campaign so far.
“Malta made a small piece of history as they began in positive fashion, following up a goalless draw in Finland with their first away victory in U-21 qualifying,” the uefa.com report said.
“Their 2-1 triumph over Lit-huania in Siauliai means they top Group 2 on four points.”
The MFA have been working relentlessly to line up a friendly for the U-21 side ahead of their competitive assignments in Sep-tember.
A few weeks ago, Ivory Coast U-21 were touted as possible oppo-nents for our national U-21 side but negotiations fell through.
Talks with Juventus proved more straightforward as the Serie A club were receptive to the idea of sending their youth team to play a warm-up game in Malta.
Yet, the visit of Juve’s U-21 squad has sparked a minor disagreement between the Malta FA and Balzan Youths FC.
Balzan, who were promoted to the BOV Premier League last season as Division One cham-pions, had in principle agreed to play a friendly against Juve U-21 on August 7.
The contact between Juventus and Balzan was established by Anton Tagliaferro, the Maltese club’s Australian-based sponsor who knows Fabrizio Del Rosso, one of the youth coaches of the Serie A club.
It is believed that both Gianluca Pessotto, the head of Juve’s youth sector, and Del Rosso had indicated their willingness to organise a friendly match against Balzan two days before their game against Malta U-21.
Balzan criticism
However, Juventus on Tuesday sent an email to George Borg, the president of Balzan Youths FC, informing him that they were declining the invitation to play the friendly match due to the “exclusive commitment” under-taken with the Malta Football Association.
The MFA’s stance that Juve U-19 play only one friendly against Malta U-21 because of protocol issues has incensed Borg.
“We’re disappointed that the MFA has denied us the opportunity to play this match which came about after we made contact with Italian coaches who have links with Balzan Youths,” Borg said.
“The people in charge of Juve’s U-19 squad had been willing to stage a friendly against our team and this is why we’re disappointed with the MFA’s attitude, although we recognise the fact that the association is paying all the costs of their stay in Malta.
“But we are part of the MFA after all. It would have been an honour for a small club like Balzan to play a friendly match against one of the youth teams of a top club like Juventus.”