Malta beats South Africa and will play for fifth place in Berlin

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The team from Malta celebrated its first victory at the World Aquatics Water Polo World Cup in Berlin. After two defeats in the first two group games, the team beat South Africa 15:8 (3:4, 5:3, 5:1, 2:0) at the end of the preliminary round on Saturday afternoon. Player of the match was Sam Gialanze (MLT), who, like teammate Liam Galea, contributed three goals to the win. “It was a very important game and a very good win for us. And hopefully we can do better tomorrow and win again,” said Gialanze. Malta will play for fifth place on Sunday.


South Africa scored first and went into the first break with a 4-3 lead. They were still leading at the beginning of the second period, but the team from the Cape, which finished twelfth at the last World Cup in Budapest (HUN), was never able to pull away by more than two goals. On the contrary: Malta first drew level and then just before the break even took the lead for the first time in the game.The Maltese scored again with the first attack of the second half and then continued to follow up, by the end of the third quarter their lead was already five goals – that was the early decision. In the final section, Malta was able to make the victory even clearer.


Secure tickets for the other games of the Water Polo World Cup at
https://waterpolo-worldcup.berlin/tickets/ and follow the games live at https://www.youtube.com/@WorldAquatics.