Malta go down fighting against Germany in World Cup Group B opener

MALTA           5

GERMANY      9

(0-2, 3-3, 1-3, 1-2)

The Malta waterpolo national team opened their commitments in the FINA World Cup Division B in Romania when they went down to tournament favourites Germany 9-5 on Friday.

Despite the defeat, coach Milan Ciruvic will be pleased with what he saw from his young team as they put on a battling display against the Germans, who are ranked as the tournament favourites in Romania.

The Germans were off to a strong start as they raced into a three-goal lead midway through the second session, as the Maltese struggled to create any danger to their opponents’ goal.

But, late in the second session, the Maltese finally breached the Germans’ defence as goals from Jake Muscat and Jayden Cutajar saw the Maltese head into the half-time interval 5-3 behind.

From then on, the Maltese continue to grow in confidence with goalkeeper Jake Tanti distinguishing himself with some fine saves, which included two penalty saves.

The Germans just managed to keep their noses ahead in the final session as goals from Alec Fenech, Sam Gialanze and Liam Galea put Malta 7-5 behind.

But in the end, the Germans had that extra quality as they added two more goals to seal the win.

Malta: J. Tanti, P. Borg, L. Galea 1, J. Cutajar 1, S. Gialanze 1, B. Cachia, B. Plumpton, J. Muscat 1, A. Fenech 1, N. Zammit, G. Farrugia.

Germany: F. Benke, F. Rotermund, F. Korbel 2, M. Cuk 1, F. Schutze 1, M. Jungling, D. Strelezky 3, C. Yannek 1, A. Sekulic, M. Dyck 1, N. Schipper, M. Gansen.