Futsal: Cosmos hit five in late fixture, Futsal Cup semi-finals kick off tonight

After the slight slip-up against San Giovanni, Cosmos are back to conjugating the verb “to win”. Muccioli’s team clear the Cailungo hurdle in style in the late fixture of matchday 23. Yet the first scare is actually for Cosmos: Serafini ventures out of his penalty area and loses the ball; Burgagni tries to punish his former team-mate by shooting towards the now unguarded goal, but not unprotected, because Guerra is there to clear off the line. Once that episode is filed away, Cosmos start to push and on 9 minutes it is the usual Molinas who breaks the deadlock with a left-footed toe-poke that beats Giulianelli. Cailungo do not just sit back. Cosmos survive three clear-cut chances for the red-and-greens, then go back to knocking on Giulianelli’s door; the keeper produces a great reflex save to deny what looked like a certain goal from Bacciocchi’s diagonal effort. There is nothing the Cailungo goalkeeper can do, though, about Cerquetti’s close-range finish after the latter’s sharp dribble past Venerucci. In the second half Bacciocchi makes peace with the goal, robbing Burgagni of the ball as last man and rolling it into an empty net after rounding the onrushing Giulianelli. The fourth comes from Giglietti’s opportunism, as he pounces on Giulianelli’s short parry from a Cerquetti shot and finishes with relative ease. Serafini once again leaves his goal wide open and Rossini almost punishes him, but the Cailungo player’s swivelled effort drifts wide. Then, after Galeffi’s own goal on a powerful ball driven by Ceccaroli towards the far post, the duel resumes between Rossini and the Cosmos goal – or rather between Rossini and Serafini, who comes out on top in both of the No 15’s attempts to at least find a consolation goal. With this win Cosmos cut their gap to Domagnano, who had the weekend off, while Cailungo lose some ground on the teams ahead but keep intact their precious five-point cushion over the sides currently outside the play-off places. Here is the full schedule for matchday 23 of the league: Click here for the updated league table. But the futsal week does not end with the clashes from matchday 23. Today and tomorrow will see the first legs of the Titano Futsal Cup semi-finals. Both ties will be played outdoor, albeit at different venues. It all starts this evening at the Multieventi Sport Domus with the clash between the undisputed dominant force of the season, Murata, and a Juvenes-Dogana side a little off the pace in the league and therefore more motivated than ever to relaunch themselves in the cup. Tomorrow it will be the turn of two teams who, until Monday afternoon, both belonged to the top four in the league. Virtus dropped out after the defeat suffered in the big match with Murata: Michelotti’s side will therefore be looking for a strong reaction, to put an unwelcome chapter behind them and also to fuel a fresh push up the standings in the Single Group. Standing in the way of the Neroverdi will be Pennarossa, who have had a truly extraordinary campaign so far – they are second in the league – but who also need to shake off an evening that ended very differently from their initial expectations. Whether the draw with Folgore has left any lingering effects or, on the contrary, has further fired up Novembrini’s squad is something that will become clear over the course of the first leg of the semi-final to be played on the court of the Acquaviva gym. Both matches will kick off at 21:45.

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