Malta’s debut in the women’s World Cup yesterday afternoon at Ta’ Qali ended in a 4-1 defeat at the hands of a superior Croatia side.

At the end, however, coach Pierre Brincat and his girls must have been satisfied with the performance, considering the circumstances.

In fact, after suffering an early goal, the Maltese girls replied immediately, equalising through Rebecca D’Agostino, but then they suffered two more goals without reply in the first half. The final goal arrived just before the end of the match.

Croatia proved to be a superior outfit, but the Maltese girls, though never creating dangerous situations in front of goal, shared the exchanges for long stretches.

Baban, Gabric, Solaja and Koljenik were the Croatian scorers.

Malta team: T. Dimech, T. Agius, CM Fenech, N. Pace, R. D’Agostino, D. Theuma, L. Galea, M. Deguara, V. Carabott, J. Coates, A. Scicluna.