Watch: Prolific Cannella hungry for more after Sliema’s KO success

It had to be a big name to wake up Maltese waterpolo’s sleeping giant. 

Giacomo Cannella has been Italy’s main attacking sprearhead in the last four years.  So, when Sandro Campagna sprung a surprise in his squad selection for the Olympics and left the Pro Recco player home, Sliema seized the opportunity.

Italy’s loss seems to be Sliema’s gain as it was the Italian player who brought the accolades to his team with a flurry of goals, which were as delightful to watch as they were decisive in Saturday’s final against San Ġiljan.

Sliema, a traditionally big name in local waterpolo, have had arid times in recent years when it came to big title wins. Their last triumph dated back to 2013.

Many argue that despite Sliema’s bold efforts in the recruitment of local players, with the likes of Nicky Grixti, Dino Zammit and Andreas Galea all joining the Blues in recent years, the missing link to success has been a player in the water who has the necessary influence on the team to guide them through difficult times. 

Sliema’s foreign recruit was at the beck and call of what was needed for this success, with his professional qualities shining brightly against San Ġiljan.

“I came here a few weeks ago and the commitment shown by the Sliema players helped me to settle easily. I was focused on doing my best to help Sliema be successful and win a title myself since this is my first time in Malta,” Cannella told the Times of Malta.

Cannella’s first memories of Malta are painful, when last June, Pro Recco lost to Olympiacos the Champions League Final Four showdown. Yet, the Italian player has taken his destiny back into his own hands, when he raised the bar at Sliema.

“I was amazed by the great enthusiasm of local people for the game of waterpolo. This aspect is missing from the game in Italy because we are backed by few supporters.  My emotions are running high, seeing all these Sliema supporters reveling in success,” he explained.

“The season is not over yet but we already have a title in our pockets,” Cannella added.

Cannella’s truly remarkable performance lifted his team-mates on Saturday not the least the explosive Jayden Cutajar, the stealthy work of Jamie Gambin, the dependable backbone made of Zammit, Galea, Benji Cachia, Zach Mizzi and Liam Galea all lived to expectations.

The same can be said of the other tail-enders including Elijah Schembri, Jayden Cassar and second-choice goalkeeper Matthew Castillo who was given a chance to shine in this competition.

So, coach Giannis Katrouzanakis was right when saying, “my team showed great character and will to overcome San Giljan”.

Last week, San Ġiljan gave Sliema a lesson in how to convert goals on man-up situations.  But on Saturday, it was a completely different story as they administered the same medicine on their opponents as they upped their game to score 80% of their man-up situations.

“Listen this is waterpolo. We have one game with Cannella in the water and a completely different game without Cannella,” he said. 

In the KO semi-final against Neptunes,  Cannella was on two personal faults early on and Katrouzanakis was forced to use him sparingly.

Yet, Sliema’s youth stood their test well and managed to lower their opponents’ colours.

“We are two years ahead of schedule but our young lads come of age and managed to give the Sliema people something to shout about,” he added.

Katrouzanakis admitted that taking over the reins from a legendary figure like coach Dejan Savis was not an easy task.

“Dejan Savis is a twice Olympic champion, I just tweaked some tactical moves but the rest was done by this great group of players. The future is ours,” he said.