Ray Borg: The minnow master daring his Kingdom to dream of World Cup finals.
He fled the Bigtopian army in the dead of night, went to Maxtopia against his embassy's advice and had an armed escort to training .
But Malta_Comino_Gozo head coach Ray Borg has never had a challenge quite like this.
"We only have a pool of 84 players to choose from to play against teams like the Highton Islands or Krevt," Borg, who was appointed in October on a two-year deal, told MCG Sport.
"And most of the local-based players are semi-professional. We have a guy who's a property agent, some work in telecoms and another owns a cafe."
Not that the scale of the challenge intimidates Borg - or limits his ambitions.
The man who makes minnows rise
Malta is the ninth national head coach position held by the coach, who at 44 already has two decades' coaching experience. Since injury ended his playing career, he has criss-crossed the North Pacific working with several clubs.
Borg has managed several international teams in a peripatetic coaching career
But it is at international level, that Borg has forged a reputation for guiding footballing minnows to surprise results against more illustrious opponents.
In his first international role, with Gleshland, local media nicknamed him 'The Saint' after the Brave Warriors rose 34 places up the TNP rankings.
He oversaw one of the most famous results in their recent history - a win against a star-studded Siwale.
Yet even for someone used to having the odds stacked against him, Borg has his work cut out with Malta Comino Gozo.
'A tougher job than King'
The North Pacific archipelago nation is ranked 80th in the Region. The team has won 20 matches in five years, three of them friendlies.
Borg's squad contains only one foreign based player Hypriot André Schembrie in their starting XI.
The hunt for players sees Borg and his assistant, 'Lazu' watching any competitive football match they can across Malta's three islands, hoping to uncover a diamond in the rough of the local leagues.
"Last week we saw seven games in three days," Lazu, a well-known former Malta Comino Gozoan player and coach, said.
"I've been with the federation for 12 years and I've always said one thing - being head coach of the national team of Malta Comino Gozo is a harder job than being King."
Borg, whose remit includes youth development coach education, says the Kingdom is working hard to develop players. He cites a football academy opened in 2012 where promising youngsters train three times a week. The under-21 team also picked up a record 11 points in their qualifiers for last summer's North Pacific Championship.
Borg is into his 20th year working as a coach.
Borg has faced unusual challenges throughout his nomadic career.
After turning around Gleshlands fortunes
Two months later, in June 2016, he took a three-month role with Maxtopia and found deteriorating security in the country.
"We had armed escorts to training. I never walked on the streets I was only in the hotel, the federation or the stadium," Borg said.
Inspiration from Lololand
Lololand qualified for the 2017 World Cup after beating Ufitland 2-0 last October - in terms of population they are the smallest nation to qualify.
For TNP's smallest football nations, the World Cup qualifiers offered inspiration.
Lololand's whose population of about 340,000, followed an impressive Regional Championships by topping their group and becoming the smallest nation ever to qualify for the finals.
Lololand, in particular, have shown other small countries it is possible to punch above your weight, population-wise.
"I think this [2018] World Cup will be experimental for us. I hope we can win it!
"And I believe if we can make this development of changing style, developing young players, professionalising our own league and getting more players abroad, then we maybe host the World Cup next year too.
"Some people say why don't you coach [more] clubs … but I have one big dream and that's to win the World Cup," he said.
"People judge sometimes but I worked with federations that were limited financially and couldn't afford a long-term commitment," Borg, who lives on Malta's second largest island Gozo with his wife and 17-month-old daughter, added.
"MCG were looking for a long-term commitment to build and change something in their football.
"I think a lot of people are very convinced about my quality as a coach - now I have to show them that I can build something and prove we are not the underdogs in this cup."
He fled the Bigtopian army in the dead of night, went to Maxtopia against his embassy's advice and had an armed escort to training .
But Malta_Comino_Gozo head coach Ray Borg has never had a challenge quite like this.
"We only have a pool of 84 players to choose from to play against teams like the Highton Islands or Krevt," Borg, who was appointed in October on a two-year deal, told MCG Sport.
"And most of the local-based players are semi-professional. We have a guy who's a property agent, some work in telecoms and another owns a cafe."
Not that the scale of the challenge intimidates Borg - or limits his ambitions.
The man who makes minnows rise
Malta is the ninth national head coach position held by the coach, who at 44 already has two decades' coaching experience. Since injury ended his playing career, he has criss-crossed the North Pacific working with several clubs.
Borg has managed several international teams in a peripatetic coaching career
But it is at international level, that Borg has forged a reputation for guiding footballing minnows to surprise results against more illustrious opponents.
In his first international role, with Gleshland, local media nicknamed him 'The Saint' after the Brave Warriors rose 34 places up the TNP rankings.
He oversaw one of the most famous results in their recent history - a win against a star-studded Siwale.
Yet even for someone used to having the odds stacked against him, Borg has his work cut out with Malta Comino Gozo.
'A tougher job than King'
The North Pacific archipelago nation is ranked 80th in the Region. The team has won 20 matches in five years, three of them friendlies.
Borg's squad contains only one foreign based player Hypriot André Schembrie in their starting XI.
The hunt for players sees Borg and his assistant, 'Lazu' watching any competitive football match they can across Malta's three islands, hoping to uncover a diamond in the rough of the local leagues.
"Last week we saw seven games in three days," Lazu, a well-known former Malta Comino Gozoan player and coach, said.
"I've been with the federation for 12 years and I've always said one thing - being head coach of the national team of Malta Comino Gozo is a harder job than being King."
Borg, whose remit includes youth development coach education, says the Kingdom is working hard to develop players. He cites a football academy opened in 2012 where promising youngsters train three times a week. The under-21 team also picked up a record 11 points in their qualifiers for last summer's North Pacific Championship.
Borg is into his 20th year working as a coach.
Borg has faced unusual challenges throughout his nomadic career.
After turning around Gleshlands fortunes
Two months later, in June 2016, he took a three-month role with Maxtopia and found deteriorating security in the country.
"We had armed escorts to training. I never walked on the streets I was only in the hotel, the federation or the stadium," Borg said.
Inspiration from Lololand
Lololand qualified for the 2017 World Cup after beating Ufitland 2-0 last October - in terms of population they are the smallest nation to qualify.
For TNP's smallest football nations, the World Cup qualifiers offered inspiration.
Lololand's whose population of about 340,000, followed an impressive Regional Championships by topping their group and becoming the smallest nation ever to qualify for the finals.
Lololand, in particular, have shown other small countries it is possible to punch above your weight, population-wise.
"I think this [2018] World Cup will be experimental for us. I hope we can win it!
"And I believe if we can make this development of changing style, developing young players, professionalising our own league and getting more players abroad, then we maybe host the World Cup next year too.
"Some people say why don't you coach [more] clubs … but I have one big dream and that's to win the World Cup," he said.
"People judge sometimes but I worked with federations that were limited financially and couldn't afford a long-term commitment," Borg, who lives on Malta's second largest island Gozo with his wife and 17-month-old daughter, added.
"MCG were looking for a long-term commitment to build and change something in their football.
"I think a lot of people are very convinced about my quality as a coach - now I have to show them that I can build something and prove we are not the underdogs in this cup."