After their week-long training stint in Italy, Malta will be on duty at the National Stadium in a friendly match against Macedonia on Wednesday at 8 p.m.

This will be the national team’s first test of the new season on Maltese soil before the two Group F Euro Championship qualifying matches against Israel away and Latvia at home during the first week of September.

Such a match will be a further reconnaisance exercise for coach John Buttigieg and his assistant Carmel Busuttil to explore more tactical possibilities which his units will be expected to dovetail in.

As from last season Buttigieg opted to shed older faces and introduce new ones, in the hope that he could build a sound core which could gradually gain experience at international level.

Wednesday will present the Malta technical team with another opportunity to gauge the players’ level of performance.

Buttigieg will continue to monitor the squad in the build-up to the friendly and decide on his 18 players on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Malta U-21 side will also have their first work-out of the season prior to their competitive fixture against France in a Euro qualifier away on September 7.

Although failing to pick any points from the previous group matches, Edwin Camilleri’s team only lost narrowly most of these encounters.

On Tuesday, Wales will provide Malta U-21 with their first testing match of the new season and a chance for the coach to experiment with upcoming blood.

Entrance for the U-21 friendly at Ta’ Qali’s National Stadium will be free. Kick-off is at 7 p.m.

Buttigieg's squad

Goalkeepers: Anthony Curmi, Andrew Hogg, Mario Muscat.

Defenders: Andrei Agius, Shaun Bajada, Jonathan Caruana, Edward Herrera, Carlo Mamo, Joseph Zerafa.

Midfielders: Roderick Briffa, Clayton Failla, Paul Fenech, Ryan Fenech, Massimo Grima, John Mintoff, Jamie Pace, Kevin Sammut, Gareth Sciberras.

Forwards: Daniel Bogdanovic, Christian Caruana, Trevor Cilia, Andrew Cohen, Michael Mifsud, Ivan Woods.