MALTA........................ 7

NETHERLANDS........... 22

(1-5), (4-6), (2-5), (0-6)

 

Malta closed their commitments in the SportMalta Christmas Cup in a disappointing fashion that left a bitter taste just few days before the European Championships to start next week in Croatia.

After a positive performance against France, another similar performance was expected against Netherlands but surely the Maltese selection was not up for it. Several reasons might have contributed to this performance.

The ongoing rotation by coach Milan Cirovic to give space to all his players, fatigue, the lack of risk from some players to avoid injuries or maybe some of the players set their sights on next week from early as this week.

Cirovic made again four changes in his squad. Alec Fenech, Jeremy Abela, Benji Busuttil and Jake Cachia were back in the team instead of Mark Castillo, Jayden Cutajar, Ben Plumpton u Matthew Bonello Dupuis.

Netherlands showed their quality during the game although they had a smoother path to control the game at their pace. After Liam Galea had cancelled the opener by Bilal Gbadamassi, Netherlands scored four consecutive goals to open a 5-1 lead by the end of the first session.

A reaction was expected by Malta following a slow start. Jake Muscat and Nicholas Bugelli cut the gap to 6-3 in the opening moments of the second session, a gap that stayed consistent midway through the session. Netherlands made sure of the win with three consecutive goals to start the third session 11-5 ahead.

Harry van der Meer’s team continued to dominate and stretch the lead periodically while Malta only responded sporadically from Muscat’s second personal goal and youngster Jake Cachia.

Netherlands rounded off the win in the last session as Malta looked disjointed both in attack and defence. Guus Van Ijperen, Lars ten Broek, Tom de Weerd, Tim de Mey and a brace by Mart van der Weijden

Malta: J. Tanti, A. Fenech, L. Galea (1), J. Zerafa Gregory, S. Gialanze, G. Farrugia, J. Muscat (2), J. Bonavia, J. Abela, N. Zammit (1), D. Zammit, N. Bugelli (1), B. Busuttil, M. Azzopardi (1), J. Cachia (1)

Netherlands: T. Huijsmans, B. Gbadamassi (2), J. Rouwenhorst, F. Kastrop, G. Van Ijperen (3), T. De Mey (2), K. Te Riele (4), J. Nispelling, J. Muller, T. De Weerd (4), J. Koopman, L. Ten Broek (5), J. Westerveld, S. Van den Burg, M. Van der Weijden (2)

Referees: Massimo Angileri, Stefan Licari

Photo: Domenic Aquilina