Malta's status as one of the minnows of European football means that every draw for the qualifying round of a major international tournament is bound to be tough for our national team.
That was certainly the case in Warsaw yesterday as the Euro 2012 qualifying draw pitted Malta against Croatia, Greece, Israel, Latvia and Georgia in a difficult but unglamorous Group F.
Not for the first time in the past two decades, hopes of a lucrative home tie against the likes of England, Italy or Spain, failed to materialise as the final act of yesterday's draw saw Croatia take the one slot reserved for the top seeds in Group F.
There is not one team in Group F Malta haven't faced in the past and Joe Mifsud, the president of the MFA who attended yesterday's draw together with national coach John Buttigieg and Ivan Vella, the national teams' manager, struck an upbeat note.
"Every qualifying group is difficult for Malta," Dr Mifsud told The Times.
"The teams in our Euro 2012 group are all tough but on the positive side, we obtained some good results against all of them in the past."
A smile must have crossed Buttigieg's face when Georgia were drawn in Group F.
Georgia were Malta's opponents in Buttigieg's first game in charge last August. A brace by Michael Mifsud ensured a happy debut for the national coach as Malta won 2-0 at the National Stadium.
In 2005, Malta gained a creditable 1-1 draw against Croatia in a home qualifier for the 2006 World Cup.
Greece claimed two victories against Malta in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, 1-0 here and 5-0 in Athens, but in 1991, our team held them to a 1-1 draw.
Malta last played Israel in 2003 in neutral Antalya, drawing 2-2 in their final match of the Euro 2004 qualifying campaign.
Like Georgia, Latvia have never met Malta in a competitive match but the last time the two nations met, in the 1998 Rothmans Tournament, Malta prevailed 2-1.
Dr Mifsud admitted to a tinge of disappointment at Malta's failure to land a top-drawer team .
"Given that all the nations in the top pot are very strong, you always wish to draw a crowd puller but it was not to be," Dr Mifsud said.
Asked if he regarded the matches against Georgia as Malta's best chance of gaining points, Dr Mifsud replied. "In football, you can't make predictions."
Source:timesofmalta.com/
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