Titano Futsal Cup: Cailungo go through with a stunning comeback

After tonight’s late fixture between Virtus and Faetano, the full picture of the Titano Futsal Cup quarter-finals will be complete. However, most of the key verdicts are already in. Domagnano and La Fiorita were chasing comebacks after first-leg defeats, but the mission proved unsuccessful for both the Giallorossi and the Gialloblù, who were beaten again by Juvenes-Dogana and Pennarossa respectively and thus forced to bow out of the competition early. Both second legs were played in Fiorentino. In the first time slot Domagnano and Juvenes-Dogana faced off, with the latter defending a 2-0 advantage from the first leg. The aggregate score swelled after just 1 minute, when Chezzi made the Lupi’s task even harder, and they then went on to concede a second goal around the quarter-hour mark. Bacciocchi’s goal made game management easier for Zonzini’s men, who in the second half allowed only Cavalli’s strike, which proved largely irrelevant for them in the context of the two-legged tie. La Fiorita, by contrast, had lost narrowly in the first leg. One goal would have been enough for Ghiotti’s side to wipe out Pennarossa’s lead, but it was the Biancorossi from Chiesanuova who broke the deadlock, scoring after 5 minutes through Brighi. Mattioli dragged La Fiorita back into it late in the first half, putting Pennarossa’s progression in doubt, but the club from Chiesanuova sealed it right at the death when Podeschi struck the decisive blow, sending the “Penna” through and causing the unexpected elimination of the Gialloblù. Libertas and Tre Fiori had a far more straightforward task, both carrying solid first-leg leads and both in action in Acquaviva. The Granata improved on their 5-1 win over Cosmos in the first leg. This time it finished 7-1: Bacciocchi stole the show with a hat-trick, while Taddei, Ercolani, Romuald and Mazza also got on the scoresheet. The only Cosmos goal also had a Granata signature: it was Taddei who diverted the ball into his own net to give the Gialloverdi a temporary lead, immediately cancelled out by the first of Bacciocchi’s three strikes. Tre Fiori came into the second leg with a 3-0 advantage and put the tie against Murata firmly on track already in the first half, which ended 3-1 thanks to goals from Cecchini and a Boschi brace, with Della Valle briefly making it 1-1. After the break, though, Murata produced a proud reaction, earning a 4-4 draw courtesy of goals from Casadei, Camilloni and Della Valle, with Cecchini making it 4-2 in between. Like Libertas, Fiorentino also improved on their first-leg result. Having won 6-0 against San Giovanni in the first meeting, this time the scoreline read 9-0: braces for Zafferani, Carlini and Ercolani, while Moretti, Righi and Ceccoli had to “settle” for one goal each. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Tre Penne and Cailungo served up an absolute nail-biter. The 2-2 draw in the first leg suggested another tight encounter, and so it proved: Cailungo edged it in the 2nd minute of the second period of extra time, after normal time had finished with a breathless 3-3. There’s more: Tre Penne had been 3-0 up 10 minutes into the second half, with Raschi’s brace and a goal from Loria seemingly wrapping up a place in the quarter-finals. But Cailungo produced a powerful reaction, clinging to a sensational performance from Jacopo Gamba. He scored all four goals that completed a remarkable turnaround for the Rossoverdi. The number 16 began chipping away at the Biancoazzurri’s lead on 41 minutes; then, after Moroni missed a penalty, he took responsibility for the 3-2 and 3-3, scoring in the 54th minute (from a 10-metre free-kick) and again in the 58th. With the aggregate level, just like in the first leg, extra time was needed. The tie remained on a knife-edge until the start of the second extra period, when the unstoppable Gamba delivered the stunning go-ahead goal. The 4-3 scoreline stood until the final whistle, despite Cailungo having a chance to extend their lead late on from another 10-metre free-kick, which Moroni was unable to convert. In the quarter-finals it will therefore be Folgore v Cailungo, Tre Fiori v Libertas and Pennarossa v Fiorentino, while Juvenes-Dogana will discover their opponents after tonight’s late game between Faetano and Virtus. Virtus hold a 2-0 advantage from the first leg. Here is the full round of 16 overview: Click here to view the bracket.

---