MALTA 18
PORTUGAL 19
(4-3, 3-1, 3-4, 3-5; Portugal win on penalties)
Malta were made to pay the penalty yesterday as the local boys suffered a heart-breaking shoot-out defeat to Portugal in their first game of the SportMalta Christmas Cup.
It was a disappointing outcome to a match that saw Malta relinquishing a commanding lead only for the Portuguese to rescue the game in the final minutes, restoring the equilibrium just one minute from time.
Malta were boosted by the return of Stevie Camilleri, who came out of international retirement to play for the national team again.
Camilleri had been missing since August 2022 and the Neptunes stalwart topped Malta’s scoring charts with five goals.
A two-goal start in Malta’s favour, courtesy of Andreas Galea and Camilleri were neutralised by Portugal before Malta regained a 4-3 first-session lead.
A mini 3-1 blitz for Malta followed in the second session with Ben Cachia, Liam Galea and Zach Mizzi putting their names on the scoresheet.
In the third quarter, Portugal staged a partial comeback to cut the deficit to just one goal as Malta were holding on a wafer-thin lead on 8-7.
At this point, Malta coach Milan Cirovic called a time-out to try and bring sanity into the Reds game.
Camilleri immediately made it 9-7.
Matthias Azzopardi was fouled out as Pedro Sousa scored the ensuing five-metre throw. But the battling Maltese managed to regain their two-goal cushion on 10-8 before the end of the third session with Zammit.
Rui Ramos converted another penalty at the start of the fourth quarter after Darren Zammit was fouled out for Malta.
But Zammit completed his hat-trick to keep the locals on a two-goal advantage.
Ramos kept piling up the goals for Portugal.
Likewise, there was no stopping Camilleri who reached a poker of goals to put Malta 12-10 ahead. It was a cat-and-mouse game until the end, with Ramos keeping his side within Malta’s reach and Sam Gialanze restoring the two-goal cushion.
But Pedro Sousa scored two quick-fire goals to level the score at 13-13.
With 50 seconds to go, Benji Busuttil made a great block on Pedro Sousa to keep Malta’s head above water. On the buzzer, Zammit hit the frame to take the game to a penalty shootout.
Same fate awaited the San Ġiljan left-hander as he failed to put away his penalty as Portugal scored all their five-metre throws to win 18-17.
This ongoing Sports Malta Christmas Cup is being used as a trial run for another potential revolution in waterpolo with reduced possession and exclusion period played on a 25-metre field of play instead of 30m.
MALTA
B. Busuttil, Z. Mizzi 1, A. Galea 1, L. Galea 1, S. Gialanzè 1, B. Cachia 1, S. Camilleri (C) 4, J. Bonavia, J. Abela, N. Zammit 3, D. Zammit, M. Azzopardi, M. Bonello DuPuis, M. Castillo 1
PORTUGAL
C. Gomes, R. Teixeira, Xavier Sousa, J. Costa 1, D. Sobetchi, Pedro Sousa 5, R. Ramos 4, S. Lopes, Ricardo Sousa 1, D. Pinto 1, L. Abreu, T. Paraty, S. Veiga, J. Moreira.
Refs: Ronnie Spiteri, Stefan Licari
Penalty Sequence: S. Camilleri (M) scored; T. Paraty (P) scored; N. Zammit (M) missed; S. Lopes (P) scored; L. Galea (M) scored; R. Ramos (P) scored; S. Gialanze (M) scored; R. Sousa (P) scored; B. Cachia (M) scored; R. Teixeira (P) scored.
OTHER RESULT
Slovakia vs Slovenia 19-18.
