MALTA 0
HUNGARY 26
(0-6, 0-7, 0-8, 0-5)
The Malta waterpolo national team slumped to their worst defeat in a European Championship after they failed to find a net against Hungary in a 26-0 drubbing at the Dunai Arena in Budapest on Saturday.
Although it was more than expected that Karl Izzo’s team would find the going tough against a Hungary team who were seeking to score a victory by a large margin to progress to the last eight of the tournament, one cannot but be disappointed by the lack of fight shown by the Maltese players who failed to find the net in yesterday’s match.
After Spain’s 24-7 win over Turkey earlier in the day, Hungary entered the match with a clear target on their head, to secure the win by at least a 20-goal target to top the group and seal their place into the last eight.
The Magyars made their intention clear in the first sessions when they managed to find the net six times.
That gave the onus to the home side to press further on the accelarator and a quick-fire hat-trick from Gergo Zalanki saw them surge 9-0.
The Maltese couldn’t match the speed and power of their opponents as Hungary went on to add for more goals to go into the half-time interval 13 goals ahead.
The home fans were now increasingly confident of seeing their team reach their objective and the Hungarians managed to fulfil their objective with one session to spare after hitting the target no less than eight times with Zalanki adding two further goals to his tally.
Izzo grew increasingly frustrated in the last session as his team couldn’t find a way past Hungary goalkeeper Viktor Nagy.
The Hungarians’ scoring machine kept going relentlessly as they added five more goals to seal top spot in Group C.
Malta will now be again in action on Monday when they face Slovakia in the positional play-offs between the 13th and 16th position.
