Titano Futsal Cup: Fiorentino and Folgore on court tomorrow for the first trophy of 2023

It is the very best that San Marino futsal has to offer: Fiorentino and Folgore are indisputably the top teams this season and the numbers bear it out. The Rossoblù finished the regular season of the San Marino Championship in first place, scoring 222 goals and conceding just 17 which – given the discipline and the twenty-eight matchdays of the competition – are remarkable figures. Folgore’s attacking output is not far behind: the side from Falciano are the league’s second force despite two months plagued by recurring problems and absences. Bernardi and his team-mates have netted 191 goals, conceding 40. Seven of those came in the most recent encounter between the two teams who tomorrow night will battle for the Titano Futsal Cup – the first trophy of the 2023 calendar year. The match will be played at the Multieventi and will be broadcast live and free of charge on TITANI.TV from 21:40. There will be international officiating for the game that will award the first title of the calendar year. The final will in fact be refereed by a Latvian duo, Ingus Purin and Sergejs Sacmans. The former is a FIFA international referee, the latter an Elite referee. Completing the trio will be Gianmarco Ercolani. The initiative is part of the Futsal Referee Exchange project, which about a month ago took San Marino match officials to the Baltics – where they were appointed to a Latvian Cup semi-final. The Latvian delegation will also include Kiazo Leladze, Futsal Referee Appointments Officer for the Latvian Football Federation. A prestigious milestone for indoor competitions, which – given the limited availability of such facilities in the country – has been warmly welcomed by those directly involved. “Tomorrow evening we will be playing real futsal: the indoor surface is the most suitable for the technical and tactical dynamics of this discipline, as we see in UEFA Futsal Champions League qualifying or in international fixtures. I hope it will be a much better match than a similar contest played outdoors could ever have been,” comments Matteo Michelotti, Fiorentino head coach. “We are very happy to be able to play at the Multieventi and I believe Folgore will feel the same.” Indeed, Massimiliano Spada – coach of the Falciano side – does not hide his satisfaction either: “At last, as I have already said to our players, we are starting to play futsal. Outdoors it is still five-a-side football, but there are major differences compared with the original sport. So far we have done well to adapt to playing outside; we will have to be just as good at maintaining a high level of performance on the parquet. Many of the players who will be on show tomorrow night are already used to these surfaces, thanks to the experience they have gained internationally. I am sure these factors will help further raise the technical and tactical standard of the match.” Also speaking at the pre-match press conference were Andrea Ceccoli and Matteo Chezzi, representing Fiorentino and Folgore respectively. The latter acknowledged that the team is emerging from a very difficult period in terms of managing injuries, which cost them the chance to keep pace with Fiorentino in the league regular season and also led to a heavy defeat in their most recent meeting (0-7), played at the Multieventi. “We are coming off 2–3 months of problems; now we are stabilising, although we have not played with a full squad for some time. We will do our best to turn in a big performance and defend the title.” Fiorentino’s captain, pivot Andrea Ceccoli, did not stray far from the cautious remarks of his Folgore counterpart, Chezzi. He admits that tomorrow’s fixture will be finely balanced: “It will not be an easy match because we will be facing opponents who are very gifted technically and extremely well-prepared tactically. We will give everything to bring the Titano Futsal Cup back to Fiorentino’s trophy cabinet.” Having outlined the outstanding numbers put up by the two teams in the league, it is also worth recalling how both of them also reached the final of the Titano Futsal Cup with relative ease. As holders, Folgore entered at the quarter-final stage and got past Cailungo (13-2) and Juvenes-Dogana (12-2) over two legs. Fiorentino, the second seeds in the bracket, had two extra games: they knocked out San Giovanni (15-0), Pennarossa (11-4) and Tre Fiori (5-2). Tomorrow night will also decide the competition’s top scorer: at present Bernardi (Folgore) and Gamba (Cailungo) lead the way with six goals each, while Chezzi (Folgore) and three Fiorentino players (Moretti, Rossini and Zafferani) are level on five.

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