Gallant Malta start Euro campaign with close defeat to Germany

GERMANY    18

MALTA 13

(6-5, 3-4, 6-2, 3-2)

GERMANY F. Benke, Z. Bozic 4, F. Korbel 1, M. Dyck, F. Schultze 3, P. Dolff, D. Strelezkij 2, Y. Chiru 5, A. Sekulic 1, L Kuppers, N. Schipper 2, M. Gansen, M. Vernet Schweimer

MALTA J. Tanti, N. Bugelli, L. Galea 4, M. Castillo 1, S. Gialanze 1, J. Cachia, J. Muscat 4, J. Cutajar 1. J. Abela, N. Zammit 2, D. Zammit, M. Azzopardi, B. Busuttil.

GERMANY    18

MALTA 13

(6-5, 3-4, 6-2, 3-2)

GERMANY F. Benke, Z. Bozic 4, F. Korbel 1, M. Dyck, F. Schultze 3, P. Dolff, D. Strelezkij 2, Y. Chiru 5, A. Sekulic 1, L Kuppers, N. Schipper 2, M. Gansen, M. Vernet Schweimer

MALTA J. Tanti, N. Bugelli, L. Galea 4, M. Castillo 1, S. Gialanze 1, J. Cachia, J. Muscat 4, J. Cutajar 1. J. Abela, N. Zammit 2, D. Zammit, M. Azzopardi, B. Busuttil.

The Malta waterpolo national showed signs of improvement in the opening match of their European Championships campaign but were undone by their opponents in the third session as Germany went on to win with something to spare.

A five-goal margin defeat is by no means considered to be humiliating in waterpolo, more so when the losing team is the youngest in the tournament. The Maltese went down 18-13 to Germany.

Friday’s vigour and intent were positive signs that waterpolo in Malta has a bright future knowing that the Aquatic Sports Association (ASA) is eager to build on these home-grown hopes.

Malta managed to hold their own in the opening sessions only to be undone by Germany from the third quarter onwards.

Milan Cirovic’s clan matched their opponents for most of the proceedings and it was only midway through the third quarter when the Germans netted four goals in four minutes that made the difference.

For Malta, the outstanding units were Liam Galea and Jake Muscat who combined for eight goals. Goalkeeper and captain Jake Tanti was also splendid, again pulling off excellent saves. All the others without exception performed admirably. Nicolai Zammit, scorer of two goals, was also outstanding.

In the opening session, Malta reacted well, and every time Germany edged in front, the Maltese fought back to level the score on every single occasion. Zammit even made it 3-2 to give Malta the lead for the first time. It was then the turn of Jayden Cutajar to give Malta again the edge over Germany on a 4-3 scoreline. Zammit equalised 5-5 before Fynn Schutze brought the first quarter to close on 6-5 for Germany.

A slow start to the second session saw Malta trailing their opponents by two goals for the first time in the match as the boys tossed away two man-up situations on the trot.

At that point, coach Cirovic called a time-out to try and bring sanity into the boy’s game. Galea made it 7-6 as Muscat brilliantly intercepted the ball in the Maltese area, to provide the platform for Mark Castillo to neutralise Germany’s advantage.

By this point, Cirovic had already rotated his personnel, with all of the units getting a taste of the water. Tanti made a splendid block on Zoran Bozic before Muscat completed his hat-trick on an 8-8 score. Malta’s ninth goal with a 9-9 scoreline, netted by Galea, was a beautiful swivelling backhand.

Just before the end of the second session, Malta breathed a sigh of relief, when Germany’s 10th goal was cancelled as the shot was unleashed inside the six metres. Malta changed ends on a 9-9 scoreline.

Denis Strelezkij gave Germany an early lead in the third session. But Malta’s forte was the man-up conversions as Muscat scored a fourth goal from the first of six man-up opportunities which came their way.

A terrible four-minute span for Malta ensued which saw Germany score four times without reply, tilting the balance in their favour.

A battling Malta scored twice in the last quarter with Galea and Muscat completing their poker as Germany shaded the session 3-2.

Malta will now be back in action on Sunday when they face Israel. The Israelis were off to a poor start when they suffered a comprehensive 22-1 defeat to Serbia.