Malta national teams head coach Emilio De Leo will have the opportunity to name James Carragher, the son of former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, and Sion winger Ilyas Chouaref in his squad for Malta’s opening World Cup qualifiers next month.
MFA president Bjorn Vassallo made the announcement during a news conference where he gave an update on the national teams’ preparations for their international commitments this year.
The Times of Malta had already reported earlier this month that both Jamie Carragher and his son Jamie were granted citizenship by registration as the former England player’s grandfather Paul Vassallo was Maltese originally, hailing from Qormi. He married an English woman before moving to Bootle in the UK, with his daughter Paula née Vassallo, Carragher’s mother, also Maltese.
On the other hand, Ilya Chouaref also received his passport also through his Maltese roots as he has family living in Nadur, Gozo and is also eligible to form part of the senior national team in next month’s World Cup qualifiers.
“The Malta FA scouting department is also on the lookout for new young talent and both Carragher and Chouaref were players that we have been following and now we have successfully concluded the process for them to be awarded a Maltese passport,” Vassallo said.
“We are always interested in signing players who qualify for a Maltese passport and believe that they have a higher level than what we have at the moment.
“At the moment, the MFA has over 60 players who are both homegrown as well as having a Maltese passport who are playing outside of our shores in a much higher level championships and that inevitably will increase the competitivity of our national team.
“We hope that this number will continue to grow and my appeal to young Maltese players who are striving to take their career to a higher level is to continue to work hard so that they can receive this opportunity to play in better championships to become better players for our national teams.
“It’s important that all young players who have an ambition to progress further go out of their comfort zone to reach higher standards.”
James Carragher is currently on the books of League One side Wigan Athletic and the 22-year-old centre back has made 20 appearances in the English third-tier and has netted one goal and one assist.
On the other hand, Chouaref plays for FC Sion where he has been a regular player for the Swiss top-flight side. This season, he has made 24 appearances for the club and has netted six goals and provided two assists.
Malta will open their World Cup qualifying campaign on March 21 with a home match against Finland before facing Poland away three days later.
National coach De Leo is expected to announce his first squad since taking over the team from Michele Marcolini on March 13.
Vassallo said that the men’s national team have two main objectives to reach in the upcoming campaign.
“Our goal is to improve our position in the upcoming qualifiers in contrast to what we managed to achieve in the last campaign where we failed to pick up a point,” Vassallo said.
“I expect better performances and better results so that these will contribute towards reaching our second goal, that to improve our FIFA rankings, with the team currently sitting in 168th place.”
De Leo told the media that in the past few days, he has started meeting individually with all the national squad players, and the first indications looked very promising.
“We are set to start a very long cycle which will present us a lot of obstacles and it will be important that we work really hard but at the same time show a lot of determination and motivation to reach our objectives,” De Leo said.
“In the past few days, I started one-to-one meetings with national team players to create a personal relationship with them and I also had a lot of online meetings with those players who ply their trade abroad and the early indications were very promising.
“During the meeting, I emphasised the importance that each player should be ready to make sacrifices and believe in their own ability to adapt to the new tactics.”
On the other hand, the women’s national team, under the charge of Manuela Tesse, open their UEFA Nations League campaign with an away trip in Cyprus and Vassallo made it clear that the goal was to secure a second successive promotion.
National coach Tesse will have three new faces in her squad for the trip to Cyprus and the home match against Andorra on February 25.
These are Luton Town defender Fiona Buttigieg, defender Oceane Grange, who plies her trade in France with RC Roubaix Wervicq Féminin, and midfielder Jana Barbara who is on the books of German side Schalke 04. All three players have been awarded a Maltese passport through their Maltese roots.
“We are looking forward to the start of the UEFA Nations League where our goal is to win a second successive promotion,” Tesse said.
“At the moment, we have some key players missing through injury so the arrival of these new players is a blessing for us as they fill some holes we had in the squad. We start the campaign as clear favourites for promotion and that is something I enjoy and I look forward that we are capable to fulfil this objective.
“But I can guarantee to everyone that we will give our 100 per cent.”