Super Cup: all-yellow-and-blue duel for the first trophy of the season

Just over 24 hours to go before the curtain rises on the 2022-23 San Marino football season. The honour and the burden will fall to La Fiorita and Tre Fiori, winners of the two trophies up for grabs last spring and therefore entitled to contest the 2022 San Marino Super Cup. In the press room of San Marino Stadium, the two coaches – Andy Selva and Oscar Lasagni – together with Gianluca Vivan (La Fiorita) and Michael Traini (Tre Fiori) – introduced this fixture, which in many ways acts as a bridge between last season and the new campaign on the Titan. Andy Selva, a major former figure in this rivalry, prefers to look in only one direction: “What’s done is done, that chapter is now closed. Now a new and important one is opening. Tomorrow’s match is one where we’ll try to perform well, giving our all from start to finish.” Oscar Lasagni strikes a similar note; unlike Selva – who moved from Pennarossa to Tre Fiori at the start of the European summer – he was on the bench when La Fiorita lifted both the 2021 Super Cup and the 2021-22 league title. “What we achieved last year was wonderful,” the Montegiardino coach stressed. “We’re coming off a fantastic season, but now we look ahead. We’ve changed a lot in the squad, but what hasn’t changed is the desire to keep doing well. We’ll try to start this new cycle by immediately going for an important trophy like the Super Cup.” The changes at La Fiorita mentioned by Lasagni did not involve Gianluca Vivan, who is ready to guard Montegiardino’s goal for an eighth consecutive season. “The European campaign cost us a lot in terms of energy,” the yellow-and-blue goalkeeper commented. “We’ve practically never stopped between last season and the one that’s about to start. But while it required a big effort, on the other hand we can say we’ve put plenty of fuel in the tank, which could benefit us over the longer term as well.” Michael Traini, one of Tre Fiori’s very latest signings, did not feature in Europe with Andy Selva’s side. However, he has always stayed connected with his new team-mates, absorbing their ambitions to bring onto the pitch as early as tomorrow’s clash: “This summer the team achieved great things in Europe: they went through one round and came very close in another. The lads did brilliantly, but that’s already in the past. Now we have to focus on tomorrow’s match which, besides having a trophy at stake, also prepares us for a new, long and demanding season.” From a striker still playing to one who made San Marino football history. Andy Selva underlines the positive impact the Super Cup could have on whoever earns it after 90 or 120 minutes tomorrow: “Winning a trophy is always important – for the club, for the players and for the staff. It also gives you extra lifeblood to start the season well. Building up enthusiasm would be crucial and, at least in theory, would make the approach to the season a little easier.” Lasagni is of the same mind and is already looking further ahead, to a league campaign that will demand the maximum in application and focus, also in light of the new format: “Starting well is always good for morale. However, we mustn’t forget that the season will be very long. What’s more, this year the league title will go to the team finishing top of the regular season, and that forces you to avoid any slip-ups. Tomorrow we’ll have to go for the title for the club, which makes great efforts, and also for the players who began this journey a year ago, given that the Super Cup is the trophy that closes the previous season’s cycle. On top of that, it’s another title we have to defend.” Indeed, La Fiorita were the last winners of a competition that this year reaches its 10th edition. A nice round number that both yellow-and-blue sides are aiming to inscribe their name next to, with La Fiorita knowing that, should they win, they would become the most successful club since this trophy took on the name Super Cup in 2012. “Undoubtedly, whoever wins tomorrow will have one more trophy, and that’s the main thing,” is Vivan’s view. “Everything else still has to be written. I don’t think that winning tomorrow would send any particular kind of message to our rivals, because the league will be very long and, in any case, tomorrow will be far too early to draw conclusions. I think it’ll take time to understand who really has what it takes to bring home the title.” Traini is also clear on this distinction: “A one-off game like tomorrow’s is one thing; a very long marathon such as the league is another. Tomorrow we have a very important opportunity and it’ll be up to us to give everything to seize it. But the league is something else entirely: it demands a long journey with a thousand things to prove along the way.” The match is scheduled for tomorrow in Acquaviva, with kick-off at 20:45. The game will be shown live on the Titani.TV platform, with full commentary. The referee will be Antonio Ucini, assisted by Gianmarco Ercolani and Cristiano Ernesto. The fourth official will be Giacomo Cenci.

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