The 2010 Winter League resumes today at the National Pool with the semi-finals following a rather lengthy break for the national team to play in the European Championships in Istanbul earlier this month.

The line-up bears no surprises as the four teams that stole most of the headlines this past decade or so are again vying for the first major honour in ASA competitions this year.

Sliema McDonald's, who won the title last year after a decider, made it to the knock-out stages after topping the round robin group with four wins from five matches. They drew the other match 6-6 with 2009 beaten finalists Neptunes Emirates.

The Reds, however, were shoved off the runners-up spot in the classification by a rejuvinated San Ġiljan Firetech team who were only beaten once in the qualifying phase - vs Sliema 7-16 - in the opening match of the competition.

The Saints, with new coach Pierre Borg already leaving his mark along with seasoned duo Edward Aquilina and Karl Galea among other signings, hit back to beat Neptunes 11-9 and never looked back after that.

San Ġiljan could be the revelation of the new season. They went on to peak in the right time and could hold an edge in the derby against Neptunes today with a spot in next Saturday's final at stake.

In the other semi-final, Sliema come up against Sirens Ritter Sports, the St Paul's Bay outfit who did enough in the qualifiers to outwit Exiles Jet Services and Marsascala for a place in the last four.

Sliema start favourites, also judging by their fine form and an impressive scoring record of 76 goals from five matches.

This week, Sirens were boosted by the news that former Serbia international Jugoslav Vasovic will play for them this year.

However, his recruitment will only come into effect in summer, leaving coach Karl Izzo with a mammoth task to lift his team's spirits ahead of today's semi-final against the holders.

Programme

Today's semi-finals: 4 p.m. Sliema vs Sirens; 6 p.m. San Ġiljan vs Neptunes.

Final and third place play-off: Saturday, May 29.