A tough international week awaits the Malta Under-21 team, starting with the home match against Denmark on Friday before an away trip to Romania on Tuesday.
The players in Silvio Vella’s squad will be striving to give a good account of themselves against strong opponents.
Injuries have hampered Vella’s preparations but a host of young, promising players are being given the opportunity to gain experience and show their qualities as they replace established players.
Coach Silvio Vella said: “It’s a tough situation heading into these difficult matches with several key players missing but as we have always stressed, our main objective is to prepare and enhance the development of young players at this level.
“I have full faith in this group of young players, they are doing their best as they pursue their first appearance at this level and emulate many others who, until recently, were playing at U-21 level and are now embracing the opportunity to represent their country at senior level.”
Captain Jean Borg and vice-captain Michele Sansone are among the main injury absentees, along with Zachary Brincat and Andrei Spiteri, the latter having left a positive impression on his Malta U-21 debut last month against Northern Ireland followed by another fine performance against Romania.
Carlo Zammit Lonardelli, Nick Pulis and Dejan Debono are also absent from the squad for Friday’s game against Denmark. Kurt Shaw, Matthew Guillaumier, Myles Beerman, Shaun Dimech and Paul Mbong, who are still eligible to play for the U-21 team, are part of the senior squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations League matches away to Andorra and Latvia.
The home match against Denmark will lead up to another daunting task, an away test against Romania on Tuesday in Giurgiu with both matches kicking off at 6pm Malta time.
Malta U21 Updated Squad
Goalkeepers – Rashed Al-Tumi, Timmy Aquilina, Andreas Vella.
Defenders – Jean Paul Attard, Darren Borg, Gary Camilleri, Matthew Ellul, Sebastian Grech, Zachary Grech, Marcus Grima, Liam McKay, Alexander Satariano, Owen Spiteri.
Midfielders – Ayrton Attard, Christian Gauci, Bradley Sciberras, James Scicluna, Matthew Spiteri, David Xuereb, Andrea Zammit, Jamie Zerafa.
Forwards – Jan Busuttil, Calvin Camilleri.
