In the last hours of Sunday and early Monday morning, Valletta will start their long journey to Sievi in Finland, to participate in the Uefa Futsal Cup Preliminary Round. Valletta will be competing in Group F together with hosts Sievi Futsal, Tbilisi State University from Georgia and Wattcell Futsal Club from Scotland.
Valletta Futsal are prepared to work hard till Sunday 21st August, in order to maintain a high reputation both for Maltese futsal and also for the capital city. During a press conference held in Valletta FC’s premises, Valletta’s coach Clayton Felice maintained that he had started training his players from mid-July, with the main emphasis being on their physique. He mentioned also the acquisition of two foreign players both familiar with the local futsal.
These are the international Albanian player Endrit Kaca who played with Qormi and Lija Athletic, together with Vanderlei Augusto. The latter used to play with Magione, Real Torgianese, Pescara, Portos, Fermo, Perugia and Luxol St Andrews in last season’s Uefa Futsal Cup Preliminary Round.
On the other hand, Cristian Cuadros Silva, Mohammed Elamari and Denis Di Maio were also confirmed in the squad. The Valletta’s local players are goalkeepers Neil Cuschieri and Gaetano Mallia, together with Melvin Borg, Joseph Borg, Chris Cardona, Gary Inguanez, Dylan Musu, Jovica Milijic and captain Xavier Saliba.
For Saliba this will be the third personal participation in such competition and his third time playing in Finland. Saliba on behalf of his team mates, envisaged the professional approach of the team, that of aiming for points and above all to receive respect from the opponents.
Valletta Futsal will play their first match against Sievi Futsal on Wednesday 17th August at 6pm. On Thursday 18th August, they will face off Tbilisi State University at 3:30pm. Valletta’s final match will be on Saturday 20th August against Wattcell Futsal Club and kicks off at 12:30pm.