League: Cosmos idle, chance for four sides

With NAT San Marino’s commitments completed, attention returns to the BKN301 Campionato Sammarinese. The league resumes tomorrow evening with the early kick-off of Matchday 8. In Montecchio, San Giovanni will immediately look to erase the pre-break defeat by targeting all three points against Faetano, who come into the game on the back of two straight wins and will be aiming to extend their golden run against opponents who, moreover, are within striking distance in the table. While only three points separate the Gialloblù and the Rossoneri, the gap between La Fiorita and Fiorentino – facing off in one of Saturday’s four fixtures – is much wider. The Montegiardino side ended the first segment of the season on a downturn, with two consecutive defeats, and intend to quickly rediscover their usual standards, not least because Cosmos’ rest day – together with the head‑to‑head between Virtus and Tre Penne – offers Lasagni’s men a golden opportunity to climb back up towards the very top of the single-group table. Fiorentino, by contrast, are bottom, although in the previous round the Rossoblù picked up their first win of the season, completing an incredible comeback at the expense of Libertas. Riding the wave of that success could be the key to standing up to the strength of the reigning champions, who will be without the suspended Amati. Fiorentino will host one of the two derbies of the weekend. Libertas, still smarting after seeing a 2-0 lead overturned against Fiorentino, are seeking an immediate reaction against Cailungo, who by contrast are coming off their first win of the season but will be unable to field the suspended Quaranta and Morri, the latter banned for three matches by the Sports Judge. Libertas, for their part, will be without Olcese and Bastos. Tre Fiori and Murata meet in Domagnano with morale poles apart. Tre Fiori are in full resurgence after two straight victories and are chasing another positive result that could propel Andy Selva’s side ever closer to the summit, currently three points away and jointly occupied by Tre Penne and Cosmos – the latter unable to add to their tally this weekend. Murata, on the other hand, desperately need to shake off a crisis that has gripped them for three rounds: Sarti’s men have suffered three defeats in a row and have dropped to the edge of the bottom three places, positions to be avoided at all costs. Vitaioli and Gega will be missing for the Bianconeri, while Tre Fiori have just one player suspended: Gregorio. Most of the weekend’s attention, however, will be drawn to Saturday’s fourth fixture, between Tre Penne and Virtus. Huge points are up for grabs in the race for top spot, which is within touching distance for the Neroverdi, already firmly in Ceci and his team-mates’ thoughts. Here too, the narrative of the clash intertwines with Cosmos’ rest day. Tre Penne, the only unbeaten side left in the league, want to pull away from their yellow‑and‑green rivals having played the same number of games, while Virtus see a very real opportunity to draw level. Between the two contenders sit La Fiorita, extremely interested spectators of a showdown that is guaranteed to take points off at least one of their direct rivals. The compact Sunday programme features the second derby of Matchday 8, between Folgore and Juvenes-Dogana. The former have confirmed their up‑and‑down form: a painful defeat to Domagnano has forced Lepri’s side to watch the upper reaches of the table drift further away, while from behind a chasing pack is closing in – including their “cousins” in white, red and light blue, just two points behind Folgore but currently entangled in that area of the table where no one wants to be. As a result, Amati’s team – who will be without the suspended Santi – need to produce some sort of reaction to start climbing again, and this derby, with the teams so close together in the standings, looks very much like an opportunity to seize. Similarly, Domagnano will want to ride the enthusiasm from their first win to make it two in a row at the expense of Pennarossa, who are clearly in crisis – the Biancorossi arrive in Fiorentino on a run of three consecutive defeats – and therefore more in need than ever of a change in fortunes, also because another loss would see Farabegoli’s side caught in the standings by the Giallorossi Wolves, who are currently only three points behind. Here is the schedule of fixtures making up Matchday 8, all, as always, available live on Titani.TV:

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