After suffering a highly disappointing 8-0 defeat to the Netherlands in June, Malta will be hoping to bounce back with a good performance and hopefully a positive result as the team led by Emilio De Leo faces Lithuania in another match from Group G of the European Qualifiers leading to the 2026 FIFA World Cup at the Dariaus ir Girėno stadionas in Kaunas on Thursday, kick-off at 18:00.

In the opening match, Malta lost 0-1 to Finland at Ta’ Qali while in Warsaw, Poland emerged as winners 2-0. Malta then drew 0-0 with Lithuania at Ta’ Qali before the 8-0 defeat to the Netherlands.

Photos courtesy of Malta FA

Addressing the media on Wednesday, Malta coach Emilio De Leo said “We’re coming off a Dutch game that taught us a lot. Initially, it hurt a lot. As I told the guys, certain experiences need to be lived, experienced first-hand, and they have to hurt. These teach you more and are the starting points when you want to achieve something important. It will certainly be an experience we need to capitalise on. We haven’t had much time to prepare, that’s true, but I think, as I said in the Dutch game, we haven’t changed our way of playing, we haven’t changed our identity. In these few hours of work, I think the guys have identified with our playing principles and behavioural principles.”

De Leo is not particularly worried about the restricted time he had the players at his disposal. “Actually we don’t need a lot of time. The national team is like this, the international windows are like this. There are players who arrive the day before. We need to be good at making everything practical and easily assimilated. From that point of view, we succeeded because the guys show their full availability.”

For this game, coach Emilio De Leo could not count on the suspended Matthew Guillaumier and the injured James Carragher and Teddy Teuma. Ryan Camenzuli is in doubt and trained separately on Wednesday. However, Ilyas Chouaref will be back after serving a two-match ban.

New faces in the squad include Australian-born attacking midfielder Jake Brimmer of Auckland FC and French-born forward Irvin Cardona of Saint-Etienne who will definitely boost De Leo’s options.

“Brimmer and Cardona are settling in very well. They came with a lot of determination and pride, with the desire to show their belonging and the desire to contribute their international experience to this group. They’re certainly bringing incredible added value. But as I always say, we’re a mix of guys who started a journey a few months ago. There are more experienced players and players who want to prove their worth at this level, but there are also many quality youngsters. Now we’ve brought in Kean Scicluna, as it was the case with Azzopardi, Ewurum, and Sissons, and as far as I’m concerned, they’re fully part of the senior national team. This is our trend. We have experienced players who are giving us a huge hand. I’m sure we’ll be able to achieve important results.”

Brimmer and Cardona are two of the nine foreign-based players in the squad – the highest ever in the Malta squad – the others being goalkeeper James Sissons of Chesterfield, Zach Muscat of Chaves, Kurt Shaw of Sorrento, Alex Satariano of Athens Kallithea, Jodi Jones of Notts County, Paul Mbong of Cukaricki and Ilyas Chouaref of Sion.

The Malta squad is made up of:
goalkeepers Henry Bonello (Ħamrun Spartans FC), Rashed Al Tumi (Sliema Wanderers FC), James Sissons (Chesterfield FC – ENG).

defenders Zach Muscat (Chaves FC – POR), Juan Carlos Corbalan (Marsaxlokk FC), Kurt Shaw (Sorrento FC – ITA), Enrico Pepe (Marsaxlokk FC), Jean Borg (Sliema Wanderers FC), Gabriel Mentz (Gżira United FC), Kean Scicluna (Żabbar St Patrick FC), Ryan Camenzuli (Ħamrun Spartans FC), Myles Beerman (Sliema Wanderers FC).

midfielders Brandon Diego Paiber (Valletta FC), Alexander Satariano (Athens Kallithea FC – GRE), Jake Azzopardi (Valletta FC), Jake Grech (Floriana FC), Yannick Yankam (Valletta FC), Jake Brimmer (Auckland FC – AUS), Adam Magri Overend (Sliema Wanderers FC).

forwards Joseph E. Mbong (Ħamrun Spartans FC), Jodi Jones (Notts County FC – ENG), Paul Mbong (FK Čukarički – SRB), Ilyas Chouaref (Sion FC – SUI), Irvin Cardona (AS Saint-Étienne – FRA), Kyrian Nwoko (Sliema Wanderers FC), Keyon Ewurum (Valletta FC), Kemar Reid (Birkirkara FC).

Lithuania earned two points so far from three matches in Group G of the European Qualifiers leading to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In fact, following a narrow defeat to Poland in Warsaw in March, they drew 2-2 with Finland in Kaunas before the goalless draw at Ta’ Qali. In a friendly match in June, they lost 5-0 to Denmark.

Speaking about Lithuania, De Leo said “I saw a very organised team in the home match with good playing ideas and very modern solutions. In previous matches, they managed to hold their own against important teams. Tomorrow, they will certainly try to attack the match. They are playing at home; they have quality and physicality. We must be good at compensating for their physicality with passion, desire, spirit, and the desire to redeem our last match, but also by putting our qualities and talent into play.”

Zach Muscat, who is now playing for Chaves in Portugal, added “We are coming from a not-so-positive result. But as the coach rightly said, there were positive aspects in that game. For most of the time, we tried to maintain our identity. There were times when we tried to adapt to what the game has become. There were certain interesting things to work on. Mistakes that we can learn from.”

“In tomorrow’s game, we will turn these lessons into positive things. The fact that we talk about this game as one in which we can get points is positive. It shows the progress we are making because at the end of the day, they are ranked better. We are starting to aspire to move up the rankings. We also know because we played against them that we can say with our heads held high that we can do well against them.”

Lithuania head coach Edgaras Jankauskas welcomes back Marius Adamonis, Vilius Armalas, Eligijus Jankauskas, Tomas Kalinauskas and Nauris Petkevičius while Vaidas Magdušauskas received his first national team call-up. On the other hand, Armandas Kutis, Matas Vareika, Vykintas Slivka and Pijus Širvys are missing due to injuries.

The Lithuanian squad is made up:
goalkeepers Marius Adamonis (Sudtirol – ITA), Edvinas Gertmonas (Universitatea Cluj – ROM), Tomas Švedkauskas (Žalgiris Kaunas)

defenders Vilius Armalas (FK Hegelmann), Edvinas Girdvainis (Liepaja – LAT), Justas Lasickas (Rijeka – CRO), Rokas Lekiatas (Žalgiris Kaunas), Artemijus Tutyškinas (Celje – SLO), Klaudijus Upstas (FK Hegelmann), Edgaras Utkus (Cercle Brugge – BEL)

midfielders Domantas Antanavičius (FK Hegelmann), Artūr Dolžnikov (Sigma Olomouc – CZE), Gvidas Gineitis (Torino – ITA), Paulius Golubickas (KuPs Kuopijo – FIN), Eligijus Jankauskas (Šiauliai), Tomas Kalinauskas (Kalmar FF – SWE), Vaidas Magdušauskas (Banga Gargždai), Gratas Sirgėdas (Žalgiris Kaunas), Modestas Vorobjovas (Istanbulspor -TUR)

forwards Romualdas Jansonas (Žalgiris Kaunas), Gytis Paulauskas (MFK Zemplin – SVK), Nauris Petkevičius (Sūduva Marijampolės)

Malta and Lithuania met six times with Malta winning once, Lithuania twice and the other three matches ending in draws. In February 2002, the two teams drew 1-1 in a match from the Malta International Tournament and four years later, in November 2006, Lithuania defeated Malta 4-1 in a friendly match at the Hibernians Stadium. In June 2015, Malta defeated Lithuania 2-0 in a friendly match at Ta’ Qali and one year later, Lithuania defeated Malta 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier in Vilnius. In 2017, Malta and Lithuania shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at Ta’ Qali in the same World Cup qualifiers. The last clash between the two teams was in June.

Malta vs Lithuania will be controlled by Georgian referee Giorgi Kruashvili, assisted by Levan Varamishvili and Zaza Pipia and fourth official Goga Kikacheishvili.  The Video Assistant Referee is Tamás Bognár from Hungary, who will be assisted by Bakur Ninua from Georgia.