A winless streak of four matches earlier this year had looked to have dashed Sliema Wanderers’ hopes of clinching European football this summer, having also slipped into sixth place with a considerable margin behind the other contenders.
The poor form in the league together with the surprise elimination in the last 16 of the FA Trophy at the hands of Mosta, triggered club president Keith Perry to replace coach John Buttigieg with Italian tactician Stefano Maccoppi in mid-February.
Maccoppi, 56, had already some coaching experiences on his curriculum including a short spell at Pro Piacenza, who were just kicked out of the Italian Serie C, Piatra Neamt of Romania and various spells in Switzerland including at FC Locarno, Yverdon-Sport, Chaux-de-Fonds and AC Bellinzona.
Bringing in a coach who is not familiar with Maltese football midway into the season with immediate targets to reach may have looked a bit risky.
However, Maccoppi has guided the Blues to two back-to-back 2-1 wins over Tarxien Rainbows and Ħamrun Spartans that steered the team into fourth place, four points behind Gżira United, proving the club’s decision to appoint him right.
“After the game against St Andrews, which finished 1-1, the club called me to see if I was interested in taking charge of the team and take it into the UEFA Europa League,” Maccoppi told the Times of Malta.
“I took some time to consider the offer, in order to analyse the players one by one and check out some of their games to see what Sliema could offer.
“Having done that, I was convinced that the club had what it takes to reach its objectives and I decided to accept the post.”
Maccoppi is refusing to get carried away by the team’s positives results of late and warned that it will not be easy though as there are other teams who have strong squads and can be difficult to beat, including Gżira, Ħamrun, Birkirkara and Balzan.
Still the win over Ħamrun Spartans was a huge boost for Maccoppi who was delighted with the players’ reaction after falling behind early in the second half. “It was a very tough game as Ħamrun pinned us in our own half in the first half and in the second 45 minutes, they also managed to forge ahead,” he explained.
“However, my players managed to stage a reaction and I think we saw the best version of Sliema as we managed to cancel the one-goal deficit and clinch the win.”
Despite the positive start, however, Maccoppi has played down any extra merit to himself as he believes that the squad just needed a little push and a different way to approach the games in order to maximise their potential.
Asked about his impressions on the Maltese game, Maccoppi was pretty surprised with what he saw so far.
“I think the level is not really mediocre here,” the Italian coach said. “There is a high level of agonism in the teams and there are players with an impressive technical level.
“Some of the clubs can make it into the Italian Serie B or Serie C with the level they have and overall, I think there is improvement even at youth level because I attended several youth games of different clubs and the more these youth players are integrated into the first teams of their mother clubs, the more difference they can make.”
Contract
Maccoppi agreed to sign with Sliema until the end of the season, with an option to extend his partnership with the Blues.
“At the moment, I signed until the end of the season with the objective of helping the team to clinch a Europa League berth,” Maccoppi said.
“It is a pleasure for me working at the club, but we will discuss this situation at the end of the season, when it will be the time to evaluate our accomplishments in this campaign. “For now, we have to focus only on improving game after game in order to remain competitive until the end.
“Sliema is run by professional people who want to improve themselves and the people at the club and the city have treated me well so far, so I am grateful for that without doubt.”