Women’s national team loses to Romania

Malta fell to a 2-0 defeat in its first international fixture against Romania at the FRF Football Centre in Bucharest on Thursday. This was Malta’s opening friendly in this double-header as part of a training camp in Romania.

In this game, coach Mark Gatt handed a debut to Haley Bugeja who was in the starting XI while Veronique Mifsud collected her first cap late in the game.

Romania and Malta started the match on the front foot, in search of an early lead.  The hosts were pushing numbers forward while the Maltese were more cautious, waiting to catch their opponents on the break. While Janice Xuereb was rarely forced into action, Gatt’s team was threatening the opponents from set-pieces.

However, it was the Romanians that broke the deadlock through Beatrice Tarasila who concluded a well-engineered move as she hit a thumping volley behind Janice Xuereb on minute 41.

On the brink of half-time, Malta almost levelled terms instantly when Haley Bugeja darted towards goal but her low drive was inches wide from goal as the hosts survived a late scare to end the first-half with a one-goal lead.

In the second forty-five minutes, Romania dominated proceedings and
doubled their lead six minutes from time through Ana Vladulescu who headed home a corner-kick past Xuereb.

Malta’s next appointment against Romania will be this Sunday, at 10:00.

MALTA J. Xuereb; S. Farrugia, J. Flask, A. Sultana, N. Sciberras, S. Zammit, D. Theuma, B. Borg, Y. Carabott, M. Farrugia, H. Bugeja.

ROMANIA S. Campean; M. Ciolacu, B. Goder, M. Ficzay, B. Sandu, A. Vladulescu, B. Tarasila, R. Mirea, I. Balaceanu, M. Marinescu, C. Carp.