Croatia 5-12 Portugal
Portugal overcame Croatia 12-5 in a surprisingly one-sided fifth/sixth placed play-off. With both sides disappointed at not being in the semi-finals, Mariana Sarmento got in a bit of shooting practise.
The lacklustre Croatians could only muster one goal in the first half, Maja Kalauz scores on the break to equalise after Sarmento’s opener.
Croatia held an 8-1 lead going into the second half as Sarmento, showing her class, grabbed five early goals.
She was well supported by Vania Vieira (2) and Flavia Pachelo who got themselves onto the scorecard.
Although Portuguese capain and goalkeeper Claudia Malheiro had little to do, her replacement, Carolina Faria, made plenty of top quality stops when called upon.
The disappointment for the second half substitute will be that she conceded four goals but the game would have been much closer if it hadn’t been for her blocks.
Portugal were to lose the final half of the game 5-4 but their substantial first half lead eased them home.
Sarmento took her personal tally for the tournament to 27 by scoring all of her side’s four second half goals.
Ana Gavran, Emmi Miljkovic, Katarina Majlat and Lucija Topic replied for the Croats but to no avail.
After the game, Naida Mariani, who won two out of four swim-offs for her team, said: “I always believed that we would [beat Croatia].”
On her team’s performance over the week in Manchester, she added: “We were a bit disappointed but overall I think it went according to our expectations.”
