The Opposition

Malta

FA'S Foundation: 1900.

Affiliated To FIFA: 1959.

Major Championship Finals: None.

Record In Qualifying Group For France '98: Had a disastrous campaign losing all of their games including 2-1 defeats, both home and away, by the Faroe Islands.

World Ranking: End of '97 - 133rd; End of '96 - 122nd.

Record v Republic Of Ireland: 30/3/ 83 - Malta 0 Ireland 1; 16/11/83 - Ireland 8 Malta 0; 28/5/89 - Ireland 2 Malta 0; 3/6/90 - Malta 0 Ireland 3.

Team Profile: The recently-arrived Josip Ilic, a Yugoslav, finds himself at the centre of a far worse scenario than Mick McCarthy, with most of his best players approaching the end of their careers and little new talent arriving to replace them.

His solution has been to ask several former stars to come out of retirement, which has already has a somewhat steadying effect on the situation, but without moving the country any closer to long-term progress.

The return of a player like Carmel Busuttil, a former regular with Belgian side Genk who is now playing at home again, will help to steady the ship after a traumatic World Cup campaign.

With a long history of involvement in the game, the Maltese population has long been used to not winning very often, but even a population with fairly low expectations felt humiliated by 10 defeats, in which 37 goals were conceded but only two scored.

If you think Mick McCarthy was disappointed to find himself in the same group as the Yugoslavians, then spare a thought for Ilic who knows better than most what his native country are capable of and must now figure out a way to avoid a repeat of the two countries' meeting in the World Cup qualifiers when they lost by five and six goals to nil. His one advantage of having an entirely locally-based squad is that, perhaps uniquely in world football, a squad made up of the country's leading 25 players trains together every weekday, with players going on to their clubs on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. It didn't do them much good last time, though, and avoiding a similar fate is likely to be the first priority.

Player To Watch: Gilbert Agius - Tricky this, but Agius is the Maltese player of the year and so he gets the nod. Agius, who will be 24 year-old next month, was one of the outstanding players for Valetta last year as they made a clean sweep of domestic trophies, but he has had an understandably difficult time proving himself at international level given that he and his team-mates spend most of their time at the wrong end of the pitch.

He did score one his country's two goals in the World Cup qualifying group and has an impressive style, similar to Marc Overmars in that he has pace and likes to get out wide. Had a trial at Blackpool a couple of seasons ago after which the club wanted him to stay, but, already homesick, the player decided against it.

Ireland's World Ranking: End of '97 - 47th; End of '96 - 36th.

CroatiaFA'S Foundation: 1991.Affiliated To FIFA: 1992.Major Championship Finals: European Championships 1996.Record In Qualifying Group For France '98: Finished second to Denmark in Group One of the tournamentWorld Ranking: End of '97 - 19th. End of '96 - 24th.Record Versus The Republic Of Ireland: 2/6/96: Ireland 2 Croatia 2.Team Profile: Similar in style to the Yugoslavians, the Croatians are a major championships ahead of their neighbours in terms of international recognition, having qualified for Euro '96.Started to be taken very seriously ahead of that tournament when they went to Palermo and beat Italy 2-1, with Davor Suker scoring both goals. Somewhat strangely, however, the team then became just about everybody's great outside bet for the tournament - not least because of the spectacular self-belief of the players - and so were considered something of a disappointment when they failed to progress beyond the first round.Have a handful of players, Aljosa Asanovic, Igor Stimac and Slaven Bilic, who will be familiar to followers of the English game and plenty more of genuine quality in the likes of Zvonimir Boban, Robert Jarni and Alen Boksic, who have established impressive reputations over the past few years.The team's emergence in the wake of the war has not been all that surprising given that Croatians figured prominently in the old Yugoslavian sides (at one stage in the fifties all 11 first-choice players were from the area), but the speed with which they have established themselves has been remarkable.May not be as prolific in front of goal as their neighbours, but equally powerful. Very quick on the break and physically strong, but with a core of gifted technicians, they will present quite a challenge for Mick McCarthy's side.Player To Watch: Davor Suker - Like his Yugoslavian Real Madrid teammate Predrag Mijatovic, Suker has made quite an impact since arriving in Spain and his record to reach the 100 league goal mark after just 191 games underlines his ability around the area.Started his career with his local Osijek club, before moving on to Dinamo Zagreb from where he moved to Seville. He spent five seasons there before being brought to the capital in 1996. Has settled down well and won a league medal in his first season at the Santiago Bernabeu.In the World Cup qualifying campaign, he failed to reproduce the stunning form shown on the road to Euro '96 when he found the net 11 times. Still, given that Croatia's group also included Greece and the Czech Republic, his tally of five was highly respectable.YugoslaviaFA'S Foundation: 1900.Major Championship Finals: Qualified for World Cup eight times, semifinalists in 1930 and '62; European Championships four times, finalists in 1960 and '68. Olympic champions in 1960.Record In Qualifying Group For France '98: Finished second to Spain in a tough group which also included the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Faroe Islands and Malta. Won seven and drew two of their 10 games, scoring 29 goals along the way. Went on to beat Hungary 12-1 in play-off.World Ranking: End of '97 - 20th; End of '96 - 55th.Record v Republic Of Ireland: 19/9/55 - Ireland 1 Yugoslavia 4; 27/4/88: Ireland 2 Yugoslavia 0.Team Profile: One of the outstanding international teams of 1997, Yugoslavia were the biggest climbers of the year on the world ladder, playing 13 games and losing only one - on penalties.Were in contention to steal the automatic qualifying place for France '98 from Spain all the way up to the last round of matches, but once the draw for the play-offs was made, manager Slobodan Santrac dispensed with all of the usual niceties by announcing that his side would demolish Hungary. They duly did.Santrac holds the all-time scoring record for the old Yugoslav first division, with a career total of 238 and he clearly likes to see his own players get forward and look for goals.The team contains several international stars including Dejan Savievic of Milan, Nagoya's Dragon Stojkovic and Aston Villa's Savo Milosevic. It is their overall strength as a team and the way in which the players combine with each other that has helped them to once again become a major force so soon after the original Yugoslavia was expelled from the 1992 European Championships.The fact that their squad is spread out across the leagues of Europe, with many of them playing for the very best teams on the continent, will stand to them over the coming campaign which they will expect to be a contest between themselves and their neighbours Croatia.Player To Watch: Predrag Mijatovic - Made his name with Partisan Belgrade, but has been one of the outstanding players in the Spanish game since moving to Valencia in 1993.During his first four seasons in the country he won two leagues and one cup, contributing 70 goals in slightly less than twice that many games. Moved to Real Madrid in the summer of 1996 where he has continued to shine.Hit the international headlines over the course of the World Cup qualifying campaign by scoring 14 goals in 12 games for his country - making him the top scorer in any of the European groups. It's his 29th birthday today.MacedoniaFA'S Foundation: 1908.Affiliated To FIFA: 1994.Major Championship Finals: None.Record In Qualifying Group For France '98: Did well to finish fourth in sixteam group and, memorably, beat the Republic of Ireland in Skopje. How our boys must cherish the prospect of going back there.World Ranking: End of '97 - 92nd; End of '96 - 86th.Record v Republic Of Ireland: 9/10/ 96 - Ireland 3 FYR Macedonia 0; 2/4/97 - FYR Macedonia 3 Ireland 2.Team Profile: Were very much an unknown quantity when they were drawn in the same group as the Irish for the World Cup qualifiers and looked a pretty poor side when they were beaten 3-0 in Dublin towards the end of 1996.By the following April, though, they had learned enough to keep their heads down after going a goal behind at home to the Republic and battle their way back into the proceedings.They were a little fortunate to get two penalties within a few minutes of each other, but then turned in a more professional performance than the visitors to secure the points.They possess a number of fairly strong individuals, including Mitko Skojkovski, Artim Sakiri and Risto Mirosavov, but coach Djokica Hadzidjevski will have looked upon the World Cup group as a learning experience for a squad of players who were all very new to international football.In view of the group they have been drawn in, a third-place finish would seem a reasonable target this time around and they are likely to see us as their main threat in that scenario. Nevertheless, we may benefit from the derby nature of their games with Yugoslavia and Croatia and, if McCarthy can squeeze a little more consistency out of his men, then their presence as one of the lower seeds in the group may, in the circumstances, prove to a welcome thing.Player To Watch: Georgi Hristov - Has failed to make the impact anticipated in England since his arrival from Partisan Belgrade for £1.5 million last summer, but much of that can be put down to the overall weakness of the Barnsley team and his relative inexperience.The 21-year-old scored the third goal against the Irish in Skopje and impressed Danny Wilson enough to prompt the move. Will be a better player by the time he lines out against us again, having added a bit more guile to his pace and sharp instincts around goal.Made the headlines recently for telling interviewer from back home that the women in Barnsley were ugly and drank too much and that his team-mates are not so hot at football, making him about as popular over there as he was here last April.