Malta manager Pietro Ghedin admits the country’s hopes of securing a Scottish double are slim.
The Italian was thrilled to see Birkirkara reach the third round of the Europa League following last month's shock aggregate victory over Hearts, but concedes that international football is a different kettle of fish.
Ghedin yesterday named his 20-man squad for next Wednesday’s friendly in Estonia and the opening Group F World Cup qualifier at home to Scotland on September 4.
Read more: Scotland manager Gordon Strachan out to deliver a big result and make the nation happy
Some 17 of those players, including Birkirkara captain Gareth Sciberras, play in the part-time domestic league and former Italy assistant manager Ghedin insists the Europa League result will have no bearing on the clash with Gordon Strachan’s side.
Ghedin, who has called on Barnet midfielder Luke Gambin, Boavista forward Andre Schembri and defender Zach Muscat of Italian outfit Arezzo, said: “These experiences are very important for our players and are very heartening.
“But the national team is another thing. While the clubs’ improvement is beneficial for our players, international football is the highest level.
“In club football, you can use several foreigners but this is not possible at national team level.
“Nevertheless, I have faith in my players and I believe they will do themselves and the country proud.
“At this moment, I only hope that they are good physically as this is the most important thing for them, their clubs and the national team.”
Malta squad:
Andrew Hogg Hibernians F.C.
Henry Bonello Valletta F.C.
Andrei Agius Hibernians F.C.
Jonathan Caruana Valletta F.C.
Zach Muscat Arezzo (ITA)
Steve Borg Valletta F.C.
Ryan Camilleri Valletta F.C.
Clifford Gatt Baldacchino Gzira Utd
Joseph Zerafa Birkirkara F.C.
Clayton Failla Hibernians F.C.
Paul Fenech Balzan F.C.
Roderick Briffa Valletta F.C.
Gareth Sciberras Birkirkara F.C.
Bjorn Kristensen Hibernians F.C.
Luke Gambin Barnet F.C. (ENG)
Ryan Scicluna Birkirkara F.C.
Andre' Schembri Boavista (POR)
Alfred Effiong Balzan F.C.
Michael Mifsud Valletta F.C.
Jean Paul Farrugia Sliema W.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here