Italy……..5
Malta……0
Malta suffered a collapse in the final ten minutes of the match in a friendly against Italy which they lost by 5 goals to nil. This was an International Friendly played at the, Stadio Tre Fontane, Rome
Malta were looking for a positive result for this encounter against top nation Italy. Before the match, MFA Vice President Maria Azzopardi presented a memento to Charlene Zammit who was playing her 100th match for Malta.
The Italians started strongly as expected with Chiara Beccari shooting from an angle on 4 minutes but Patricia Ebejer was strong in goal. Three minutes later, the Italians were in the lead after a fine cross found Cristiana Girelli who made no mistake heading past Ebejer.
The match quietened down after that opening flurry although Italy continued pressing forward without much success. The Maltese limited themselves to some counterattacks although Haley Bugeja was isolated up front.
Italy almost made it 2-0 on 39 minutes after a sloppy defensive pass was intercepted by Greggi whose shot was however well blocked by Ebejer. Italy started the second half strongly and had a good chance on 63 minutes when substitute Valentina Giacinti’s header ended up just wide.
Italy continued pressing forward but Ebejer intercepted a number of dangerous balls. On 79 minutes, Italy doubled the score when Severini crossed to Sofia Cantore who made no mistake from close range. Five minutes later it was 3-0 when Benedetta Grionna tapped the ball home from close range. Another goal followed when a cross was fumbled into the net by Mariah Cardona for an unfortunate own goal. The fifth came two minutes from time through another fine effort by Sofia Cantore after she had previously hit the post.
Italy
Laura Giuliani, Angelica Soffia (Eleonora Goldoni 70), Martina Lenzini (Lucia di Guglielmo 46), Julie Piga Elisa Bartoli (Maria Luisa Filangeri 18), Emma Severini, Giada Greggi (Eva Schatzer 61), Benedetta Glionni, Agnese Bonfantini (Sofia Cantore 70) Chiara Beccari (Valentina Giacinti 61), Cristiana Girelli.
Coach: Andrea Soncin
Malta
Patricia Ebejer (Raisa Constantino 81), Emma Lipman (Valentina Rapa 75), Alishia Cassar, Maria Farrugia, Kailey Willis (Ylenia Carabott 87), Shona Zammit (Veronique Mifsud 75), Charlene Zammit, Brenda Borg, Emma Xuereb, Nicole Sciberras, Haley Bugeja
Coach: Manuela Tesse
Scorers: 1-0 Cristiana Girelli 7, 2-0 Sofia Cantore 79, 3-0 Benedetta Grionna 85, 4-0 Sofia Cantore 88, 5-0 Mariah Cardona (og) 86
Referee
Ioanna Allayyaiotou (Cyprus)
