Benevento
Before a championship match you try to know a little everything about the team you are going to face, it is difficult for a technical staff to have any gaps in this sense. But these playoffs, which are a race against time, often also become a leap into an unknown world. The opponent will not be known until Sunday morning, when the winners of the six matches of the second round of the group stage, with the exception of the best who will become seeded, will enter the Lega Pro pot to establish the pairings: The scoreboard it already has four out of five slots occupied by the three third-placed teams of the regular season (Benevento, Vicenza and Carrarese) and the winner of the Italian Cup (Catania). The fifth team is expected, the best of the qualifiers for the second round of the group stage which will take place on Saturday 11 May. It is worth remembering that the fourth-placed teams in the regular season in descending order, i.e. Casertana (65 pts), Triestina (64 pts) and Perugia (63 pts), by winning their match (against Cerignola, Giana and Rimini respectively) have a better chance to occupy the fifth seeded spot. It goes without saying that the other five will be part of the group placed in the ballot box, one of which will be drawn to be Benevento’s opponent.
Who would you prefer to be the witch’s first rival in the playoffs? It’s difficult to say, which is why we took help from the numbers which in the end always reveal something interesting.
SHAPE. There is an indicator in each team’s “score” that talks about their form and tells how they finished the championship. It is useless to underline it, the one that has scored the most points is Capuano’s Taranto: 15 points in the last six matches. Immediately after Casertana with 14, then Cerignola with 13. All teams from group C. To find a team from the other groups we have to wait for fourth place held by Juventus Next Gen with 12 points. Only after come Pescara and Giana Erminio with 10.
IN HOME. Another indicator is the predisposition to win home matches: here too Taranto stands out, having scored an impressive 43 points at Iacovone (13 wins, 4 draws, 2 defeats). Immediately after is Perugia with 38 points (10 wins, 8 draws, one defeat), immediately after Rimini and Casertana with 36 points. The “score” of the Rimini team is strange as they scored just 11 points away from home (3 wins, 5 draws, 11 defeats), but they are also the only ones who won the first round of the play offs away from home, on the Gubbio pitch.
OUT. Of the away numbers, Triestina stands out, having achieved 12 victories, one draw and 6 defeats away from “Rocco”, obtaining an impressive 37 points, as well as Mantua who have already won the championship. The record for away draws belongs to Cerignola, 11. Contrast Taranto’s home run (43 pts) with the away one (26 pts).
CLEAN SHEET. An indicator that speaks of the solidity of the defensive sector can be that of the “clean sheets”, i.e. the matches finished without conceding a goal. The highest number among the 12 involved in the second group round was obtained by Perugia: 16 “clean sheets”. Immediately after there is Atalanta U23 with 15, then Taranto and Picerno with 14. It is worth remembering the overall clean sheet ranking in the three groups: Cesena leads with 24, followed by Juve Stabia with 20 and Carrarese with 19 , then Padua and Avellino 18, Benevento, Vicenza and Mantua 17. Three of them have already won the championship (Cesena, Juve Stabia and Mantua), two others finished second (Padova and Avellino), the others in third place (Carrarese, Benevento and Vicenza).
Here are the pairings of the second round of the playoffs which will take place on Saturday 11 May:
GROUP A: Triestina-Giana Erminio, Atalanta U23-Legnago Salus.
GROUP B: Perugia-Rimini, Pescara-Juventus NG.
GROUP C: Casertana-Audace Cerignola, Taranto-Picerno
