Watch: Historical success as Sliema ASC reach Challenger Cup quarter-finals with perfect record

SLIEMA ASC 16

CAROUGE NATATION 5

(5-2, 2-2, 4-1, 5-0)

Sliema ASC underlined their supremacy in Maltese waterpolo as they made history when clinching a berth into the quarterfinals of the LEN Challenger Cup to be held between January and February next year.

The jubilation among those present at the National Pool, the players, team officials and supporters, signified the importance of such historical feat.

Sliema became the first local side to qualify to the knock-out stages, emulating last year’s success attained by the national team under the name of Valletta.

“We made history,” an elated George Gregory, Sliema ASC president told the Times of Malta.

“Today our team has reached a level that no other sport has ever reached in Malta. A quarter-final berth in a European club competition is no mean feat, “he said.

ASA president Karl Izzo was equally delighted by the success attained by Sliema ASC.

“I hope this success will encourage other local waterpolo clubs to participate in this competition in the future,” Izzo said.

On his part, Sliema coach Giannis Katrouzanakis hopes Sliema’s success will be beneficial for the local movement.

“This is more than just a success for my club but all the waterpolo movement will benefit from this qualification,” Sliema coach Giannis Katrouzanakis told Times of Malta.

“We were expecting a tough game today as our opponents Carouge Natation were aiming to reach the qualification again as they did last year when they reached the quarter-final stage.

“This was an opportunity for all our players including the youngsters to level up their performance. They will find this experience handy when they will join the national team.

“We were expecting a tough game today as our opponents Carouge Natation were aiming to reach the qualification again as they did last year when they reached the quarter-final.

“This success gains more significance when one considers that we were playing against a star-studded side full of French national players, including the experienced Romain Blary and we could not field any foreigners, as well as missing Jayden Cutajar and last year’s first-choice goalkeeper Matthew Castillo,” he explained.

Yet that prediction that the clash would probably be a tight fare went completely off the mark as the Blues provided a superb performance to annihilate their opponents whose track record and experience could not be ignored.

It was a test that Sliema passed with flying colours as the team got on the driving seat from the outset and kept pegging until deflating their opponents.

The match was full of action with the Blues taking the first session 5-2 with the former France U-19 player Iyes Moussa Benyassine excluded in the first session after throwing the ball at the referee in an aggressive way.

The Swiss club were led in the water by another Frenchman, the former Neptunes player Romain Blary.

The Blues started well with two goals coming from Liam Galea and Andreas Galea. Then, Dino Zammit beat the buzzer with a cute lob over Clement Dubios, before Daniel Rizzo made it 5-2 for Sliema.

That three-goal advantage was maintained at the interval after the teams shared four conversions.  Zammit and Elijah Schembri with a great shot replied to Ronen Gros’ double.

At the start of the third session, Zammit and Schembri repeated themselves as Sliema continued to enjoy the upperhand, extending their lead.

Jayden Cassar made it 11-4. Carouge lost another player Kyriakos Pontikeas on protests.

After that the Swiss team were completely deflated, suffering more goals without further reply.

Indeed, the Blues ended the sporting hostilities as clear masters with Zack Mizzi Jamie Gambin and Benji Cachia putting themselves on the scoring sheet and Zammit topping his team’s scorers’ chart with five goals.

“It was my aim since I joined Sliema at the end of 2021. I spurned the club president that our target should be participating in the European competitions,“ Zammit who finished overall top scorer of Group C with nine goals said.

“This is a big leap ahead for the Sliema club. When you consider that today we played against a very experienced side with 16- and 17-year-old players, this success increases in its significance,” he added.

Carouge: C. Dubois, L. Abbate, R. Gros 2, R. Catillaz, R. Blary, I. Moussa, K. Pontikeas, R. Garcia, M. Rota, J. Melet 2, H. Roscio 1, D. Thebault, Y. Schmuki.

Sliema ASC: N, Grixti, E. Schembri 3, L. Galea 2, J. Gambin 1, J. Chircop, B. Cachia 1, J. Cassar 1, D. Rizzo 1, J. Brownrigg, A. Galea 1, Z. Mizzi 1, D. Zammit 5, Z. Dzanovic.