Malta punished for poor finishing

Malta 0
Turkey 2

The Maltese women's national team fell to another World Cup qualifying defeat as Yagmur Uraz scored twice to hand Turkey a 2-0 win at the Centenary Stadium yesterday.

Pierre Brincat's girls put in a strong first-half performance but they were punished for their profligacy in front of goal to remain still without a point in Group Five.

After four minutes, Rebecca Chircop sent a flashing low delivery across the Turkey area but three Maltese players were unable to get a touch in front of an open goal.

The Maltese girls were almost caught on the break nine minutes later, when Helg Inan Erturk broke clear but shot straight at 39-year-old goalkeeper Nina Dimech.

In the 19th minute, Catherine Camilleri was unlucky when she rounded the goalkeeper but ran out of space to get in a shot after being set up by an exquisite ball behind the Turkish defence from the increasingly influential Rachael Cuschieri.

That miss proved costly for the hosts as three minutes later, Burcu Duner teed up Uraz with a fine pass, the Maltese rearguard allowed the Gazi Universitesi striker a free run at goal before volleying the ball into the net.

On 26 minutes, Ylenia Carabott flicked the ball just over from a Dorianne Theuma free-kick as Malta continued to press throughout the opening period.

Despite being a goal behind, the Maltese came out in determined mood after the break but for all their possession they rarely threatened the Turkish keeper.

Malta edged possession without creating any clear-cut goalscoring opportunities.

This sparked Turkey back into life, and after a couple of chances went begging, Uraz volleyed in the second goal from Ertürk's 57th-minute pass.

Ten minutes later, Dimech produced a remarkable double save to keep the score respectable; first blocking Bilgin Defterli's swerving shot before diving to palm Ertürk's follow-up strike.

On 76 minutes, Cuschieri's feeble shot was wildly off-target and posed no significant threat to the Turks.

After the game, Brincat admitted that his team must learn how to handle the big occasions.

"I think we played the better football in the first half against a strong wind," he said.

"But if you give them a chance they will put it in the back of the net and that's what they did. They were very clinical when they got the opportunity. If we'd done the same, it might have been a closer game," he explained.

Malta: N. Dimech, R. Chircop, R. D'Agostino, N. Pace ('59 K.Saliba), K. Parnis, C. Zammit ('45 E. Xuereb), D. Theuma, R. Cuschieri, C. Camilleri ('86 G. Zahra), M. Debono, Y. Carabott.

Turkey: D. Yilmaz ('88 M. Özyumþak), K. Gulsen, Y. Demir, C. Yað, S. Kýrac ('79 G. Belci), B. Düner, B. Defterli, R. Seker, H. Inan Ertürk ('68 E. Erol), E. Lütiye, Y. Uraz.

Referee: I. Tereshchenko (Russia).

Standings: Spain (4-0-0) 12; England (3-0-0) 9; Austria (1-0-2) 3; Turkey (1-0-2) 3; Malta (0-0-4) 0.