Newly-appointed national futsal coach Kevin Mifsud knows that he has a hard act to follow after succeeding experienced Dutch-man Vic Hermans but he’s re-lishing the challenge.
Mifsud is the first Maltese coach to take charge of the national futsal team but he believes that his familiarity with the Maltese culture and com-plexities of local sport will stand him in good stead.
“The responsibility is big, especially as I’m the first Maltese to coach the national futsal side after Michael Striz and Vic Hermans,” Mifsud, who has signed an 18-month deal, told The Times.
“I feel I have an advantage in that I’m familiar with the local culture. Futsal is still an amateur sport in Malta and our players attend training after a day’s work. I understand their needs and difficulties.”
Critics often argue that foreign coaches are more adept at instilling discipline in Maltese players but Mifsud doesn’t fore-see any problems in com-manding respect from his players in the squad.
“I’ve already spoken to the players and they reassured me that they are willing to co-operate,” Mifsud said.
“I see no reason why our players should have any diffi-culties to work under a Maltese coach.”
Like Hermans, Mifsud is keen to knock down the perception that the futsal and football can’t co-exist.
“The mentality is wrong,” Mifsud said.
“Many think that futsal and football are in competition but it’s not true.
“They actually complement each other. You start futsal before going into football but those who don’t make the grade, remain in futsal.
“The pool of footballers is very limited and most want to play futsal and football. If this practice exists in other countries, why can’t we adopt it in Malta?”
Mifsud is striving to add another training session for the squad as from next season.
“It’s important that from next season, the national squad have an extra training session weekly,” Mifsud said.
“As most clubs are settled with their training time-tables, it would be unfair to add another session for the national team now but I plan to do it from the start of next season.
“I’m meeting the club officials to discuss this matter.”
Leading Malta to their first positive result in a competitive match is one of Mifsud’s main objectives.
“My ambition is to improve our results in qualifiers,” he said.
“The previous two coaches have done well but our results in competitive matches left a lot to be desired. I hope that in the next European qualifiers, in January, we will get a positive result.”
Malta are expected to play some friendlies in preparation for the next Euro qualifiers with Mifsud saying that they are trying to organise two warm-up games, possibly in Malta, between May 13 and 16.
Mifsud, who turned 44 last Monday, began his coaching career with Pentagon Properties six years ago. In his second season at the helm, he Pentagon to the second division title and pro-motion to the top league.
In the last two years, Mifsud was in charge of Paola Downtown and, at the end of last season, he was appointed assistant to Hermans.