Sliema ASC will be in search of history in Maltese waterpolo as they will be bidding to become the first Maltese club to reach a final in a European club competition when they face Dutch side GZC Donk in the Len Challenger Cup semi-final, second leg, at the Cottonera SC on Saturday.
The Malta champions suffered a heart-breaking 18-17 defeat in the opening leg played in the Netherlands a fortnight ago and are fully determined to avenge that result and secure a place in the continental final to be played over two legs on April 5 and 26.
Sliema’s march into the semi-finals of the European club competition is already an historic achievement for Maltese waterpolo as no club has gone far on the continent. The Blues’ feat takes further significance when one considers that they are the only team in the competition who are not making use of foreign players.
Sliema coach Giannis Katrouzanakis said the first-leg defeat to GZC Donk was hard to fathom and is backing his players to snatch a win with a two-goal advantage that would send them into the final.
“To be honest, when I saw our match against GZC Donk I couldn’t believe that we had lost the match,” the Greek coach said.
“It was not the best of performances from my team and we can certainly play much better. But now our focus is on Saturday’s semi-final where I expect my players to be far more aggressive right from the outset so that we can get the result we want.
“We need to take control of the game from the first session and I am sure that with the backing of our supporters, we can reach our goal to win the match and secure our place in the final.”
Asked whether his team are aware of the huge achievement the club would obtain if they reached the LEN Challenger Cup final, Katrouzanakis said that he doesn’t want his players to think much about this feat not to put extra pressure.
However, he admitted that reaching the final would be something extraordinary not just for Sliema ASC but Maltese waterpolo in general.
“Reaching the final of a European club competition was something that nobody thought about at the start of the season,” Katrouzanakis said.
“We are going up against a GZC Donk side who were built to win this competition. Dutch waterpolo is one step higher than the Maltese game so if we had to knock them out it would be a huge injection of self-belief not only for Sliema ASC but also for the national team that we are capable of reaching higher objectives at international level.
“When we started our campaign in the LEN Challenger Cup our goal was to gain experience, but now that we have reached the semi-final stage, we want to go all the way. The team has been preparing for this match for the past 15 days and every player is fully focused on the task ahead.
“This is a historical moment for our club, and we will give everything to try and win this war so we can reach the final.”
Katrouzanakis is boosted by the return of Andreas Galea who missed the first leg in the Netherlands through suspension and the Sliema coach is hoping the club fans will throng the Cottonera Sports Complex to give one big push to his team today.
“I believe that our fans can be the extra player for us to help us attain the win we are all looking for,” Katrouzanakis said.
“Creating a hostile atmosphere will pile up the pressure on our opponents and can help us to raise our level of performance.”
