Thousands of Maltese, many wearing red and white, are converging on Ta' Qali for the Malta-Italy world cup qualifying match, undoubtedly the top sporting event in Malta this year.

The cheering, singing and a blaring band in the pre-match party are pretty much hiding the fact that Malta is well and truly the underdog against the football giants.

Speakers were blasting out "Tonight is the night" three hours before the match was due to start. 

The South End core support group told timesofmalta.com that they had a "mega surprise" for all the fans watching the game in the stadium.

One member said they would keep cheering and singing the National Anthem till the very end, whatever the score.

By 6pm queues were snaking around the stadium and a few people were seen making last minute attempts to buy tickets, to no avail. Burger stalls dotted the whole area and an Italian vendor was the only one selling hats in the Italian tri-colori. There were not many buyers.

Maltese supporters, forgetting the 6-0 drubbing in Bulgaria last week, said "anything can happen" tonight and "every game has its own story".

And if Malta wins? Most said they'd take the day off tomorrow to go carcading. "It will be like winning the election all over again!" a supporter said. Even a draw would be a bonus.

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