The Malta Under 17 team, like the senior and the Under-21 sides, will also be in full playing swing in August when they are due to face their Welsh counterparts in Newport on Tuesday and Thursday the 20th and 22nd in two friendlies. These matches will be in preparation ahead of the team’s competitive engagements later on this year.

Head coach Sergio Soldano, assisted by Noel Turner, will be able to assess his units at this early stage of the season as well as integrate them collectively. He will draw on a number of new promising faces from our league teams across the board and provide them with an opportunity to gain international experience.

The team has had several physical and technical sessions during the hot months and will now be relishing what should be a cooler environment, in the new Welsh Technical Centre at Newport. Soldano hopes his lads will draw on their abilities to produce sound performances which could reap satisfactory results against a country boasting of a higher international standing.

The group will be headed by Robert Gatt, Head MFA Technical Centre, who will be accompanied by team manager Jesmond Abela, Manager at the Technical Centre, besides the coaches and other technical personnel.

The squad is made up of
goalkeepers Jamie Azzopardi (Rabat), Mikhail Sciberras (Balzan);
defenders Daniel Buckle (Hibs), Christian Degabriele (Pietà), Nick Ghio (Pietà), Iousef Meli (Sliema), Nicholas Pulis (Pietà), Neil Spiteri (Floriana);
midfielders Conor Borg (Floriana), Juan Carlos Corbalan (Balzan), Jake Grech (Hamrun), Matthew Guillaimier (St. Andrews), Mark Anthony Scicluna (Sliema), Mauro Sultana (Floriana), Neil Tabone (Zejtun);
forwards Aidan Friggieri (Sliema), Joseph Mbong (Hibs), Kyrian Nwoko (St. Andrews).