Title-deciding semi-finals on TITANI.TV: first legs tomorrow

In nine days’ time San Marino football will have a new national champion: with Folgore – the outgoing champions, knocked out in the Preliminary Round by Fiorentino – having relinquished the title, four teams remain in contention. And while La Fiorita, Tre Penne and Tre Fiori have all recently added the league title to their trophy cabinets, to find Pennarossa’s last success we must scroll back through the honours list and rewind San Marino football to the 2003-04 season, the year of the most recent triumph for the Chiesanuova club. Andy Selva’s men have not reached the Campionato Sammarinese semi-finals by chance, but as the result of a highly positive season. After finishing fifth in the regular season, the Biancorossi went on to eliminate Murata and Virtus. Over those two-legged ties, Semprini proved decisive: the Pennarossa goalkeeper saved two penalties, allowing Alessandro Conti and his team-mates to get the better of the two aforementioned opponents. Now comes the toughest obstacle: La Fiorita, seeded no. 1 and ever-present in the league final in each of the last four completed seasons (with the exception of 2019-20, when Tre Fiori were declared champions upon the definitive suspension of activity). For Selva it is a step back into the past: he ended his playing career with La Fiorita, whose captain he once was, but he will certainly not be offering any favours to his former side. In the two league meetings this season there was a goalless draw and a narrow 1-0 win for the San Marino runners-up. In the post season, given La Fiorita’s advantage for having finished the regular season above their future opponents, Pennarossa will need at least one victory. Two draws, or in general a situation of complete parity in goals scored and conceded over the 180 minutes, would send the Montegiardino club into the title decider. Tomorrow evening in Montecchio we will have a much clearer picture: the first leg of the semi-final, live on TITANI.TV, kicks off at 20:45. The other semi-final will pit Tre Penne against Tre Fiori: both exempt from the Preliminary Round thanks to their top-four finish in the regular season, they meet for the third time this year. In the previous encounters there has been one draw and one win for the Città club. Having eliminated Libertas and Faetano respectively, Ceci’s and Borgagni’s sides will cross paths tomorrow evening in Acquaviva (kick-off at 20:45). The match will be streamed live on TITANI.TV, the San Marino FA’s OTT platform. Should the goal difference be perfectly level at the end of the two legs, Tre Penne would reach the final, by virtue of their second place in the regular season. Tre Fiori are chasing yet another semi-final success, after knocking out La Fiorita in the two-legged Coppa Titano tie – a competition later won by the Gialloblù from Fiorentino. The other key storyline concerns qualification for European competitions. If Tre Penne were to eliminate Tre Fiori, the title-deciding final on 26 May 2022 at San Marino Stadium would also determine access to the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa Conference League. If instead Gian Luca Borgagni’s side were to reach their second final of the season, the third-place play-off (25 May, 20:45) would take on added significance. In this second scenario, the one-off match between the defeated semi-finalists would also award a place in the UEFA Europa Conference League – the same spot that Aldo Simoncini and his team-mates have already secured by winning the Coppa Titano.

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