Italian coach concerned by Lithuanians’ superior match fitness
Ħamrun Spartans coach Giacomo Modica is urging his players to give everything they have as the Malta champions open their European adventure with a tough trip to Lithuanian side FK Zalgiris in Vilnius on Wednesday evening (kick-off: 6.00pm).
The Spartans are bidding to leave their mark in this season’s UEFA club competition and are determined to try and progress at least one round of UEFA’s prestigious competition to boost their hopes of reaching the League Phase of the Conference League.
This season, the Reds have handed the reins of the team to Modica and during the past few weeks, the former Messina coach has put his players through their paces to ensure they arrive for today’s clash in their best physical condition.
Modica is relishing the challenge of leading the Spartans in European football this summer, but admits that his major concern is Zalgiris’ superior physical condition. This is because they are midway through their league championship, with the Spartans only starting their pre-season training four weeks ago.
“I am really happy to have been given this role at Ħamrun Spartans,” Modica told the Times of Malta.
“My main objective is to repay the club’s faith in me by leading them to some important results. During the past week, the team travelled to Italy for a training camp. It was an important exercise, even though we did not have all the players in the squad available, as many joined the group midway through and they had to play catch-up.
“Despite all these problems, we are still determined to produce a strong performance against a Zalgiris side who have won the Lithuanian championship, has passed through a difficult spell in this year’s league, but seems to have recovered their best form.
“My only concern is that they are ahead of us in terms of championship matches, and their match sharpness is superior to ours.
“But this is a competition that should motivate everyone to be at their best, and we will put all our resources on the table and understand that the tie is decided over two legs, not just one, and we have the opportunity for something very important for our club.”
Asked whether the goal this evening was to try and get a positive result to leave the tie open for next week’s return match at the Centenary, Modica said: “We will try to be superior over 180 minutes, I have great faith in this group of players and the biggest motivation for all the players should come from the fact that this could be an opportunity of a lifetime to try and make history for the club.”
Modica is known for his long relationship with former Foggia and Roma coach Zdenek Zeman, with whom he worked as an assistant for several years.
Asked if one expects the Spartans to adopt the same attacking tactics, Modica said: “I hope to be able to have the same positive influence he had in his team. I was blessed to work with him for several years. His ideas and concepts are based on a high level of fitness and tactical discipline, and hopefully, time will bring more advantages than disadvantages.
“It’s important that there is harmony between all areas in the club, from players to coaches, club administration, and fans. For me, everyone in the club must work together for the same goal, the players and coaches are the ones you see, but everyone who works with the first team is even more important and can help us achieve a major result.”
The Spartans have gone through a lot of changes this summer with key players like Steve Borg and Roko Prsa leaving the club while ten new overseas players arrived at the club.
Maximum effort
The Ħamrun coach has promised the Spartans fans maximum effort to ensure the team reaches the objectives set by the club.
“Every team starts the season with the objective of winning matches and honours,” Modica said.
“And we are no different. One promise I can make to the fans is that we will work very hard with maximum commitment to lead this club fulfil the dreams of firstly the president but also of the passionate fans of Ħamrun Spartans.
“I hope I will be understood and given time, but when you change you need to be patient to see the result of all the work you put in. But I am confident that we will have a great season.”
