Romania (9) v (1) Malawi

By Emily Day

ROMANIA defeated Malawi 9-1 today in a strong display of skills.

Malawi began the game cautiously, passing back to their goalkeeper and hesitating to attack.

Making the most of their timidity, Romania took possession and put away their first goal in the first 20 seconds.

From then on the first half continued in this way, with Romania making strong attacks on goal which the Malawi keeper did his best to deflect.

Clever passing from Malawi brought them close to scoring but the strike was unsuccessful.

Romania dominated the play with their swift passing, sneaky backward kicks and creative use of the side walls to elude defenders.

But Malawi’s persistent defence meant that another four minutes passed before Romania netted their second goal.

Fifteen seconds later, Romania shot the ball through the Malawi’s keeper’s legs to bring the score to 3-0.

And it wasn’t long before Romanian Pavel Calancea took a hefty swipe at the ball, slamming it into the back of the net to end the first half with a 4-0 lead.

Malawi entered more determined and controlled into the second half, bagging their first goal after 20 seconds to bring the score to 4-1.

But their victory was short-lived as Romania’s Daniel Podina responded to make it 5-1.

A series of deft passing ended in a powerful shot from Claudili Kostity, to give Romania a five-goal lead.

Malawi’s strong defending made it tricky for Romania to score, but Romania didn’t drop the tempo for a second, and eventually penetrated Malawi’s back line to bag three more goals, including a penalty bang on the final whistle.

Photos: Photoworx