Preliminary Round of the title play-offs set, now the Coppa Titano takes centre stage

End of the regular season with a thriller for Andy Selva’s Pennarossa, who came close to throwing away fifth place in the table – the best position from which to approach the Preliminary Round of the Championship play-offs – in their final outing against Cosmos. Chiesanuova’s side took the lead on the half-hour thanks to Sebastiani’s strike from the edge of the box: a left-footed effort from a dead-ball situation, unstoppable for Batori. Cosmos, however, refused to play the role of party guests and on 65 minutes restored parity through a perfect header from Stella. Late on, Stefanelli went close to a winner, which eventually arrived through Emiliano Dema: on the pitch for a quarter of an hour, the forward was quickest to react to Batori’s short parry and slotted home a precious 2-1 winner deep into stoppage time, sealing fifth place for Pennarossa. Before the end, two yellow cards in the space of a minute for Stella saw him dismissed early by referee Delvecchio. As a result, Faetano’s big win over Cailungo turned out to be irrelevant in the battle for fifth. The deadlock was broken from the spot just before the half-hour mark, when Villa deemed the contact between Censoni and Tamburini a foul. Palazzi converted from eleven metres, having to retake the penalty as well. Protti’s men were rocked and conceded the second three minutes later: Giardi threaded a pass into the run of Tomassoni, whose back-heel flick opened up a central lane for Palazzi. Only Censoni’s last-ditch intervention denied him a cheeky chipped finish, but Pini was quickest to the tap-in, making it 2-0. In the second half, Cailungo pulled one back through Benedetti on 66 minutes: a powerful, precise left-footed drive from 25 metres that gave Luca Rossi no chance. Faetano kept their composure and restored a safe margin on 73 minutes, when De Buono produced an irresistible run from halfway that carried him at pace to the edge of the area. The left-footer then failed to make proper contact, but the ball fortunately fell to Giardi: the captain struck first time, finding a deflection off Censoni that helped the ball into the net for Faetano’s third. The scoreline was rounded off at four in added time thanks to Russo’s clincher: a splendid two-touch vertical move ending with Magno’s pass on the edge of the box to his strike partner, who opened up his body and, first time, beat La Monaca. The win was not enough to give Faetano fifth place, but it did allow Girolomoni’s men to overtake Libertas and set up a Preliminary Round tie with San Giovanni. The yellow-and-blues’ coach will have to watch the two-legged encounter from the stands, with two additional league suspension days still to serve. There were no implications for the table in the match between Virtus and Murata, who were both already certain of their positions. Bizzotto’s men recorded their fifteenth win of the campaign, taking the Neroverdi to 52 points in the regular season. Already directly qualified for the play-offs as fourth seeds, Nodari and his team-mates edged a narrow victory on the Acquaviva artificial pitch. The decisive goal came from Pietro Sopranzi on 77 minutes, released in front of Achille Terenzi after a fine move down the flank. Earlier, Sorrentino had struck a penalty against the crossbar. These are the results of the early kick-offs in the 30th league round: This is how the Preliminary Round line-up now looks, to be played over two legs and without extra time – with the exception of the title decider and third-place final. If the number of goals scored over the two legs is level, the team with the better regular season record will advance. La Fiorita, Tre Penne, Tre Fiori and Virtus will enter directly at the play-off stage, when the quarter-final bracket will be drawn up. This will guarantee San Marino’s runners-up – as the no. 1 seeds – a pairing with the side that finished the regular season with the lowest points tally among the teams that have come through the Preliminary Round. And so on for the remaining three seeded teams.

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©FSGC It is now time for the Coppa Titano: the trophy will be awarded in just over a week at the San Marino Stadium (30 April, 20:45). Competing for a place in the final will be the winners of La Fiorita-Tre Fiori and Domagnano-Folgore. The semi-finals are played over two legs, scheduled for Sunday 24 and Wednesday 27 April, and can go all the way to a penalty shoot-out if parity persists. Borgagni and Lasagni’s sides know all about that, having served up a final only last year that was decided after a marathon of 24 spot-kicks. Tre Fiori’s back line will have to be rebuilt from scratch, with suspended duo D'Addario and De Lucia and injured Davide Simoncini all unavailable. In the other semi-final, Domagnano will be without Simone Nanni, banned by the sports judge. Both matches will be streamed live on TITANI.TV (click here to access), free of charge for registered users. It takes just a few steps to sign up to the FSGC’s digital platform: click on login, enter your e-mail address and choose a password, which will be requested each time you log in. Nothing could be simpler to have Sammarinese football at your fingertips, available on any device with an internet connection: whether television, tablet, PC or smartphone, you will be able to enjoy both semi-finals, with Italian commentary, wherever you are. The final at the San Marino Stadium on Saturday 30 April will instead, as always, be broadcast on San Marino RTV. Exceptionally, the match that will award the first trophy of 2022 will also be broadcast nationwide on channel 831 – as well as on San Marino RTV Sport (ch. 93 DTT). Tickets will go on sale from Monday 25 April at the FSGC Federal Secretariat (every afternoon from Monday to Friday, 16:00-19:00), at Vivaticket outlets and online at Vivaticket.com (click here to visit the page). On matchday, the ticket office at the San Marino Stadium will be open from 19:00.  

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PENNAROSSA Landi, Mantovani, Martin, Raffelli, Cola, Maioli (from 46' Halilaj), Michelotti (from 60' Codispoti), A. Conti, Stefanelli, Tiboni (from 76' Zago), Sebastiani (from 76' Dema) Substitutes: Semprini, Ottaviani, Rastelli Coach: Andy Selva   COSMOS Batori, Pari, Zafferani, Sartini, Cavalli, Gjorretaj, Celli, Venerucci, Stella, Ura, Della Valle Substitutes: Cervellini, Valentini, Zaghini Coach: Massimo Gori   Referee: Raffaele Delvecchio Assistants: Andrea Depaoli and Gianmarco Ercolani Fourth official: Alessandro Vandi Scorers: 32' Sebastiani, 64' Stella, 90'+2' Dema Booked: Ura, Pari, Stella Sent off: Stella (second yellow card)

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FAETANO Rossi, Federico, Fatica, Romagna, Tomassoni (from 46' Della Valle), Fall, Palazzi (from 46' De Buono), Giardi, Pini (from 77' Barretta), Tamburini (from 55' Russo), Kalemi (from 55' Magno) Substitutes: Broccoli, Vandi Coach: Maurizio Gasperoni (Girolomoni suspended)   CAILUNGO La Monaca (from 46' Gallinetta), Censoni, Ferrari (from 79' K. Vagnini), Grieco, Quaranta, F. Vagnini (from 58' L. Cecchetti), M. Cecchetti (from 46' Santucci), Diallo (from 46' Senja), Marinaro, Benedetti, Morri Substitutes: T. Conti Coach: Cristian Protti Referee: Nicola Villa Assistants: Alfonso Giannotti and Ernesto Cristiano Fourth official: Emiliano Albani Scorers: 27' pen. Palazzi, 30' Pini, 66' Benedetti, 73' Giardi, 90' Russo Booked: Censoni, Giardi, Tamburin, Marinaro, Santucci Sent off: Santucci (second yellow card)

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VIRTUS Paolini, N. Gori, Nodari, Giacomoni, Castiglioni, Muggeo (from 66' Raiola), Alvarez (from 63' Golinucci), Magri, Sopranzi (from 78' Ciacci), Apezteguia, Sorrentino Substitutes: Guerra, Angeli Coach: Luigi Bizzotto   MURATA Terenzi, Valentini, Cangini (from 85' Genghini), Toccaceli, Fall, Ricci, Bertozzi (from 85' Bernardi), P. Gori (from 42' Pari), Carlini, Bruma, Babboni Substitutes: Castelgrande, Benedettini, Lelli, Comuniello Coach: Achille Fabbri   Referee: Gianluca Ceccarelli Assistants: Andrea Zaghini and Laura Cordani Fourth official: Luca Tura Scorers: 77' Sopranzi Booked: Babboni Note: on 58' Sorrentino hit the crossbar from the penalty spot

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