Futsal: Libertas and Faetano meet again on Thursday, Virtus chase five in a row

For a week now there has been only one team at the top of the futsal league: Virtus. They are not, however, the only side with a 100% record. Also in that club are La Fiorita, who after their rest day (and a straightforward progression in the Futsal Cup) are ready to pick up where they left off, hoping perhaps for a slip by the leaders. On Tuesday Pietrangeli’s Gialloblù will find a Juvenes-Dogana side in their path who are moving forward only in small steps in the league (they come from two consecutive draws), but who are brimming with enthusiasm in the cup after clinching a place in the Final Eight at the expense of Tre Penne. The match will be played on the court of the Acquaviva Sports Hall and will be one of three indoor fixtures of the fifth matchday. Another, the only one on Monday evening, will pit Murata – recently wounded by the draw with Cosmos (their first in more than a year) – against San Giovanni, who after their opening win have plunged into a spiral of defeats, including two heavy ones in the cup. The Rossoneri’s need for redemption under Palermino brings them mentally close to Fiorentino, who face Cailungo, a side that came close to an extraordinary comeback in the cup and who in any case are enjoying an excellent spell of form, as shown by the two positive results (a draw and a win) recorded in their most recent league outings. This will be the game that opens the evening in Dogana; afterwards – at 21:45 – Domagnano will look to relaunch themselves after their first defeat of the season (followed by a cup win and progression in the Futsal Cup), at the expense of a Folgore side who have already had to wave goodbye to the cup, but who are enjoying a very good moment in the league, with two victories sandwiched around a draw: a run which, as things stand, has the Giallorossoneri three points above the Wolves in the table.

The other two outdoor fixtures of the entire fifth round will be hosted tomorrow in Domagnano. It starts with Pennarossa–Cosmos, two sides coming off very different cup wins. In the league the runners-up of San Marino have managed to get back on track after their defeat to La Fiorita and draw with Libertas, while Cosmos are coming off a week of genuine emotional rollercoasters: first the exhilarating draw against juggernauts Murata; a few days later, an almost-complete harakiri against Cailungo. It will be up to coach Franchino to bring some order to his team’s thoughts, as they look for a return to a victory that has been missing for three rounds and remains, so far, their only one in the league. Then, still in Domagnano, the league leaders Virtus will take to the court, in search of a fifth consecutive scalp after those, in order, of Cailungo, Fiorentino, Cosmos and Domagnano. The opponents for Michelotti’s Neroverdi will be a Tre Penne side in need of an emotional jolt after the back-to-back 2-2 draws with Juvenes-Dogana, results that went down very badly with the Penserini Boys: in the league because the equaliser came practically on the final whistle, and in the cup because it cost them a premature exit from the competition.

The fixture that will close out the programme for matchday five will be played on Thursday, it will be indoor (at the Acquaviva Sports Hall) and will be a private affair between Faetano and Libertas, face to face again after the cup Round of 16 tie played exactly a week earlier, which ended in a clear win for Levani’s men. So far there have been two head-to-heads this season and both have gone the way of the Granata, who are sailing with the wind in their sails in the league thanks to two wins and a draw from their last three games. Faetano instead are gasping for air at the bottom along with Fiorentino and Tre Fiori (who will sit this one out), as they have yet to experience any result other than defeat. It is mission redemption then for Matteo Selva’s boys, with their coach back regularly on the bench after his enforced absence in the cup. This match too, like the other two indoor fixtures of the fifth matchday, will kick off at 22:00.

Here is the schedule for matchday 5 of the league: