NETHERLANDS 18
MALTA 14
(7-4, 2-3, 7-3, 2-4)
Malta’s quarter-final match against the Netherlands in the Division Two of the World qualifiers turned out to be an honourable performance nevermind the defeat at the hands of a higher-ranked Holland side, on Friday.
The 18-14 scoreline, a close one by waterpolo standards, reflects a battling display from Malta which lived up to their billing of a good standing in the European list.
Milan Cirovic’s men battled on and were still with a chance of a positive result before the change of ends.
The Netherlands then, made their class tell.
By the end of the third quarter, they all but assured themselves of victory and from then on, they administered the proceedings without running into any trouble.
The Netherlands raced into a 5-2 lead in the opening session, but Malta reacted well with Liam Galea to close the gap once again.
Malta did put the ball in the net again, with Cirovic’s players at a standstill, waiting for the referee to validate Steve Camilleri’s strike, but she ruled out the ‘goal’ and ordered a five-metre throw on the other side after a VAR review. Mart Van der Weijden made it 7-3 for Holland.
But Malta fought back as goals from Sam Gialanze, Galea, Camilleri and Mark Castillo saw them cut the deficit to just two goals as the teams changed ends 9-7.
But the Netherlands regained the initiative after the break, netting three times and conceding once to surge into a 12-8 lead.
Malta created other scoring opportunities with Castillo and Camilleri adding to their tallies but were caught out on fast breaks as the Dutch made it 17-10 before the start of the final eight minutes.
In the last quarter, Cirovic’s side showed signs of improvement with Nikolai Zammit hitting three goals and Camilleri completing his hat-trick but the Netherlands had already stamped their authority on the match by then.
On Saturday, the Maltese have the opportunity to take sweet revenge on Portugal who lowered their colours in the Christmas Cup in Malta when the two countries meet in the positional play-offs.
THE NETHERLANDS: J. Westerveld, B. Gabadamassi 1, J. Rouwenhorst 1, B. Hessels, M. Van der Weijden 5, T. de Mey, K. Te Riele 2, S. Hessels 2, S. Van den Burg 1, T. de Weerd 2, K. Heitnk, L. Ten Broek 4, M. Buitenhuis, N. Hofmeijer.
MALTA: J. Tanti, L. Galea 3, A. Galea , M. Castillo 2 , S. Gialanzè 1 , B. Cachia, S. Camilleri 3, J. Cutajar 1, J. Abela, N. Zammit 3 , D. Zammit 1, M Azzopardi, B. Busuttil, J. Bonavia.
