BKN301 Championship: Cosmos win the play-off final and return to Europe

Cosmos-La Fiorita brings the curtain down on the 2022-23 post-season of the Campionato Sammarinese BKN301. The play-off final has a place in the UEFA Europa Conference League at stake: a guaranteed reward for the winners and still a possible target for tonight’s defeated side – who could only feature in continental competition if Tre Penne win next week’s BKN301 Coppa Titano final. There is an early chance at either end: Zulli shoots too centrally to trouble Vivan, while at the other end Russo tries an acrobatic overhead from a Vitaioli cross but sends it well wide. Amati then fires over from distance with his left, captaining La Fiorita in the absence of the injured Danilo Rinaldi. Abouzziane is back available and starts on the bench, as does leading scorer Prandelli for Cosmos. The first clear-cut opportunity arrives on 16 minutes: Amati drives a free-kick from the right edge towards Simoncini’s near post and when the goalkeeper can only parry, Russo pounces on the loose ball but incredibly fires wide from a very favourable position. La Fiorita are the better side in the opening phase and deservedly break the deadlock after the half-hour mark. Before that, Amati had sent another free-kick over, but Matteo Vitaioli is brutally clinical on 33 minutes. The San Marino national team captain ghosts in at the near post to meet Palazzi’s set-piece and beat Aldo Simoncini with a fine header. Cosmos take the blow and, after a few minutes of understandable confusion, begin to work their way back into the game. The equaliser comes in the form of a stunning strike from Riccardo Zulli, one of several former La Fiorita players who joined the yellow and greens last summer. It’s the 42nd minute when the left winger in Berardi’s side turns a poor clearance from Vivan into gold, cutting inside Arrigoni and picking out the far corner to restore parity. The match, if anything, becomes even more intense, but there are no further twists before the interval, which Cosmos and La Fiorita reach level at 1-1. The second half starts with raids from the two Palazzi: Mirko, the Cosmos wide man and San Marino international, cuts the ball back from the by-line for Nisi, who cannot take advantage of a rebound a few yards from goal. Nicola, La Fiorita’s playmaker, finds room to shoot from the edge on 55 minutes but fails to angle his effort enough to trouble Simoncini. There is a spell of protests from both sides on 63 minutes: first Cosmos, who feel they should have had a penalty for contact between Zulli and Arrigoni. From the continuation of the move there is a challenge between Nicola and Mirko Palazzi which, in La Fiorita’s view, is well beyond the limits of the laws. Out of the ensuing cluster of protests comes a yellow card for Guidi – who had come on three minutes earlier together with Prandelli. It will be Guidi himself, another player who swapped La Fiorita for Cosmos last summer, who completes the yellow-and-green comeback. In a second half low on technical quality, the substitute forward’s strike arrives like a bolt from the blue. A vertical move runs through the spine of the Cosmos team before Guidi is released one-on-one: Di Maio finds Errico, who slips the ball forward for Prandelli to lay off. The rest is all about Guidi’s quality as he bursts past Brighi and leaves Vivan no chance with a thumping diagonal finish on 78 minutes. The goal adds tension to the closing stages, but chances are scarce despite coach Manfredini’s ultra-attacking changes, throwing on Pancotti, Abouzziane and Signate. Prandelli’s final, meanwhile, lasts just over twenty minutes as he is forced to forfeit on 86 minutes. The Cosmos back line stand firm even through the five minutes of stoppage time added by referee Albani, during which La Fiorita’s pressure yields only a scuffed left-footed effort from Grassi and a header from Fatica. Berardi’s side can therefore celebrate winning the Campionato Sammarinese BKN301 play-offs and, at the same time, securing a place in the UEFA Europa Conference League. It is a European appointment the Serravalle-based yellow and greens had been waiting 22 years for: their only previous continental outing was the two-legged 2001-02 UEFA Cup tie against Rapid Vienna of Austria. For La Fiorita, hopes of extending their run of consecutive seasons in UEFA club competitions now rest on a Tre Penne victory in the BKN301 Coppa Titano. Should Virtus instead prevail next Saturday, it would be the Acquaviva club who earn the right to represent San Marino football in Europe, alongside Tre Penne and Cosmos. Also played last night, again on the Montecchio artificial pitch, was the match between Libertas and Virtus to determine fourth place in the league. Once more without a recognised goalkeeper, the Neroverdi are forced to turn to Nicola Angeli between the posts, where the forward acquits himself well on a couple of occasions. Bizzotto’s side, who in exactly a week’s time will contest the BKN301 Coppa Titano final with San Marino champions Tre Penne, take control of the game and go in front with a superb free-kick from Luca Sorrentino – the forward expertly bending his right-footed effort over Zavoli’s wall and into the net, leaving the Libertas goalkeeper with no chance. The response is immediate, with Thomas Sapori stamping his name on the equaliser just after the half-hour mark. There is a neat move on the edge of the Virtus area, where Morelli’s final pass allows his team-mate to strike left-footed in front of Angeli. A crisp finish at the near post makes it 1-1. However, it is Pedrini who decides the outcome of the match on 62 minutes: the Virtus midfielder, who arrived in San Marino in January, is set up for the shot by a delightful back-heel from Sopranzi. Pedrini does the rest, timing his technique perfectly to beat Zavoli low into the corner. Libertas end their season with a narrow defeat, while Virtus prepare for a date with history – scheduled for Saturday 27 May, when they will battle Tre Penne for the Coppa Titano.

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