Croatia 22
Malta 2

(7-1, 5-1, 5-0, 5-0)

Croatia punished Malta’s off-colour performance as the Olympic waterpolo champions cantered to a 22-2 victory in their final Group B match at the European Championships in Belgrade yesterday.

After commendable showings against France and world and European champions Serbia, Karl Izzo’s men failed to keep up their level as they were brushed aside by the superior Croats, suffering their heaviest defeat so far at the Kombank Arena.

Malta struggled in defence straight from the outset and that played in the hands of the efficient Croatians. They exploited their opponents’ frailties with their swift passing and precise shooting to rack up a comprehensive victory that enabled them to seal second place in the group behind winners Serbia.

Malta coach Izzo was disappointed with his team’s showing.

“I’m very disappointed with the team’s performance today,” Izzo told Times of Malta.

“It’s true that we played against a very strong nation but I expected much more from the players who took to the water with a downbeat attitude and that is very disappointing.

“Our defensive organisation was very poor as we conceded too much space to their players who had easy shots at goal while both our goalkeepers were off form today.”

Asked whether tiredness contributed to yesterday’s bleak showing Izzo said: “I don’t think so. After only three matches we shouldn’t be affected by tiredness.

“We didn’t turn up today.”

Malta now proceed to the positional play-offs and tomorrow they face another hugely difficult match against group A winners Spain.

Izzo has urged his players to put yesterday’s performance behind them if they are to gain a commendable result against Spain.

“We need to get this performance out of our system as quickly as possible as we have another tough match coming up on Saturday (tomorrow) morning and I hope the players produce the right response.”

Croatia quickly got into their stride in the opening session.

They took advantage of Malta’s defensive difficulties to hit the target seven times with Jerome Gabaretta scoring Malta’s only goal.

Malta showed signs of improvement in their defensive play in the second session but Croatia’s lightning passing moves continued to expose gaps in the opposing rearguard.

Croatia’s scoring rate from long-distance shooting remained high in the second session, netting five times to change ends 12-2 ahead.

Mark Meli grabbed Malta’s second with a good strike from five metres out.

The match was all but settled but that did not stop Croatia going for more goals.

Izzo’s men tried to keep the pace with their more skilful opponents in the third session but the Croatians stayed on top, rattling in five more goals to start the final eight minutes with a sizeable 17-2 advantage.

Hard as they tried the tiring Maltese players could not stop Croatia from adding five more goals in the final session to wrap up a comprehensive victory.

Croatia: J. Pavic, D. Buric 2, A. Petkovic 1, L. Loncar 1, M. Jokovic, L. Bukic 3, A. Vukicevic 2, A. Buslje 4, A. Sukno 4, B. Pavlovic, A. Setka 3, M. Macan 2, M. Bijac.

Malta: A. Borg Cole, N. Lanzon, J. Gabaretta 1, N. Bugelli, M. Meli 1, M. Zammit, S. Camilleri, J. Camilleri, J. Brownrigg, A. Cousin, B. Plumpton, D. Zammit, N. Grixti.

Refs: G. Kun (Hungary), S. Naumov (Russia).

Other results

Group A: Spain vs Netherlands 15-4; Montenegro vs Slovakia 15-6.

Standings: Spain, Montenegro 7; Netherlands 3; Slovakia 0.

Group B: France vs Serbia 8-16.

Standings: Serbia 9; Croatia 6; France 3; Malta 0.

Playing today
Group D: 9.30am Hungary vs Turkey; 8.15pm Russia vs Greece. Group C: 5.15pm Georgia vs Italy; 6.45pm Germany vs Romania.

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