Heavy defeat against hosts

Spain 21 Malta 4

(4-1, 5-0, 8-2, 4-1)

Malta was expected to have a rather mission impossible task agaisnt the hosts Spain in the opening match, and this proved to be the case after Jerome Gabarretta had given Malta a surprise lead.

The Spaniards were too strong for Malta with the locals having a rather low efficiency in front of goal, scoring four from 15 attempts, against the Spaniards’ 21 goals from 36 attempts.

Malta could’nt cope especially in the third session, suffering eight goals, practically a goal every minute. Malta had lost 14-3 against Spain in the last 16 round two years ago. In the other match of the group Montenegro, Malta’s opponents tomorrow, beat France 8-6.

Malta’s result was however not the worst one on the opening day in Barcelona, with Turkey suffering a 27-1 drubbing against neighbouring Greece. Italy also impressed with a convincing 14-1 victory over Germany.

Malta took the lead inside the first minute with a shot from Jerome Gabarretta for the locals’ first goal of the tournament. Grixti saved Malta’s lead on a couple of occasions on shots from Perrone and Del Toro, but eventually Spain drew level with a Guell Mallarch shot from 5 meters.

Spain had the first man up when Jordan Camilleri was sent off but Guell Mallarch missed his effort. However Spain took the lead with 2:10 to go with a counter break finished by Granados Ortega.

Malta missed a man up situation when Steve Camilleri hit the post, and Malta paid the price as Spain increased the lead through Marc Larumbe Gonfaus. Ben Plumpton was sent off and Miguel Dominguez Del Toro fired home the fourth goal.

Spain scored two quick goals at the start of the second quarter through Tahulli and Bustos Sanchez, with the locals missing another man up possibility. Then it was Dino Zammit’s turn to receive a 20 second exclusion, but Aurelien Cousin blocked Tahulli’s shot.

However Spain incremented the score when Granados Ortega finished for the home side. Miranda Fernandez scored Spain’s eighth goal, with Malta again hitting the post through Matthew Zammit with another man up possibility. With six seconds to the half way line Alberto Munarriz made it 9-1 for the hosts.

Spain made it ten at the start of the second period and Steve Camilleri, the tournament’s top scorer two years ago, scored Malta’s second and his first in this edition. Granados Ortega and Munarriz made it 12-2, as the score was now becoming heavy for Karl Izzo’s boys.

Steve Camilleri got his second of the tournament, but Spain scored two further goals for a 14-3 score line. Malta missed another numerical superiority as Spain continued to score at will increasing the tally to 17-3 by the end of the third quarter.

Jake Tanti started in goal for Malta in the final quarter with Spain quickly scoring their 18th

Group A

Georgia v Hungary (1-3, 2-2, 2-3, 0-4)

Damir Tsrepulia 2, Beka Kavtaradze, Andria Bitadze, Zurab Rurua.

Bence Batori 3, Gergo Zalanki 2, Marton Gyorgy Vamos 2, Gergo Kovaks 2, Krisztian Peter Manhercz, Balazs Erdelyi, Kristztian Bedo.

Boris Margeta (Slovenia), Luis Santos (Portugal)

(0-2, 0-4, 0-2, 1-6) 5-12

Reiko Zech. Pietro Figlioli 2, Vincenzo Renzuto Iodice 2, Michael Alexandre Bodegas 2, Gonzalo Oscar Echenique 2, Francesco Di Fulvio, Guillermo Molina Rios, Valentino Gallo, Nicholas Presciutti, Zeno Bertoli, Andrea Fondelli.

Stanko Ivanovski (Montenegro), Ivan Rakovic (Serbia) goal. Malta finally took advantage of a man up with Matthew Zammit scoring Malta’s fourth goal. But Spain showed no mercy scoring three more goals, the 21st one from a Perrone penalty.

Group C

Turkey v Greece 1-27 (1-5, 0-7, 0-6, 0-9)

Nadir Sonmez Greece: Ioannis Fountoulis 6, Alexndros Evgenios Gounas 5, Angelos Vlachopoulos 5, Georgios Dervisis 4, Marios Kapotsis 3, Stylianos Argyropoulos 3, Konstantinos Mourikis

Referees: Gabriella Varkonyi (Hungary), Massimo Angileri (Malta)

(4-2, 3-1, 4-1, 4-4)

Ante Vukicevic 4, Maro Jokovic 3, Josip Vrlic 3, Loren Fatovic 2, Luka Loncar, Andjelo Setka, Javier Garcia Gadea. Robin Lindhout 3, Sam Van Den Burg, Milos Filipovic, Harmen Muller, Pascal Janssen, Thomas Lucas. Benjamin Radoslaw (France), (Poland) Mercier Koryzna

Group A