Floriana will be striving to mark their return to European competition with a creditable performance when they host Cypriot side AEK Larnaca in the first leg of their Europa League second qualifying round match at the Hibs Stadium today (kick-off 7.30).
To the undiscerning eye, the Floriana-AEK encounter looks like a normal fixture between two minnows of European football but, from a Maltese perspective, this game contains a small dose of local rivalry as AEK Larnaca are guided by former Valletta coach Ton Caanen and have former City players Doding Priso and Luke Dimech on their books.
Jordi Cruyff, who turned out for Valletta in the final year of his playing career, is the sporting director of AEK Larnaca.
The Valletta connections at AEK Larnaca have given this match an extra edge but the Greens seem only preoccupied with giving a good account of themselves against a team who, on paper, start as favourites to reach the third qualifying round of the Europa League.
“It’s an important game,” Michael Woods, the Floriana coach, said during a news con-ference in which the FA Trophy winners unveiled their new signings, namely Ghanaian goal-keeper William Amamoo, Bra-zilian forward Edilson and Argen-tine striker Julio Alcorse, formerly of Marsaxlokk.
“Floriana have not played in a European competition for 17 years. It’s going to be a difficult game because the level of football in Cyprus is better than ours but we’ve prepared well.
“We will try to stay fully focused throughout the 90 minutes as that would improve our chances of getting a good result.”
Woods hopes his team keep a clean sheet in today’s home match.
“Maltese teams usually find the going tough against Cypriot opponnents. So, we must strive to keep a clean sheet at home.
“Tactical discipline is very important,” Woods said.
Experienced forward Ivan Woods is not expected to start today as he is nursing a slight hamstring injury. Wing-back Duncan Pisani is also out of the equation.
The Floriana coach declared himself satisfied with the club’s transfer campaign so far, adding that they are still in the market to improve their forward options.
Floriana president Johan Said explained that the club’s initial efforts in the close season were aimed at retaining the Maltese players who formed the backbone of the squad last season.
“What we’re tried to do in the past few weeks was to confirm the squad we had last season,” Said reflected.
“We have made two significant investments in Christian Cassar and Thomas Paris who have now joined us on a permanent basis.
“Joseph Borg, Luke Agius and Matthew Towns signed new contracts and we have also added new players to our squad, namely Edilson, Julio Alcorse and William Amamoo.
“We are approaching our home game against AEK Larnaca with our feet on the ground because we know that we are playing against strong opponents.
Said also revealed yesterday that Floriana have released Daniel Nwoke after their attempts to lure the Nigerian striker back to the club proved futile.
According to the Floriana president, Nwoke was supposed to resume training with the Greens as the latter’s qualification to the Europa League triggered an auto-matic two-month extension of his contract with the club.
“Nwoke is contracted to Flo-riana FC until the end of July,” Said said.
“We tried everything to bring him back but he has not been seen in Malta since May.
“We have registered a dispute with the Malta FA over Nwoke as we feel that he has acted in an unprofessional way.”
Referee: Emir Aleckovic (Bosnia Herzegovina FA).