Serie C, playoffs: Delio Rossi mocks Zeman, the final will be Foggia-Lecco

The playoff final will be Foggia-Lecco to win promotion to Serie B (first leg on June 13 at 9.30 pm in Foggia, return on June 18 at 5.30 pm in Lecco). Both the Apulians and the Lombards needed penalties to break the resistance of Pescara and Cesena respectively. Foggia performed yet another incredible miracle in these playoffs. After the comebacks with Cerignola and Crotone, he eliminated Pescara by first leveling the score in the last second of added time and then grabbing the second equal to 5′ from the end of extra time (2-2). Below, even on penalties, they ended up prevailing thanks to mistakes by Aloi and Desogus. Lecco, on the other hand, thanks Buso, who re-established parity after the 1-2 draw in the first leg and then Lepore who scored the decisive penalty.

Pescara dreams thanks to Cuppone

In front of over 20 thousand spectators at the Adriatic a daring challenge was staged, forbidden to the faint of heart. The duel between great exes, Zdenek Zeman (314 benches for the Rossoneri) and Delio Rossi (67 games for the Biancazzurri), was won in the end by the Romagnolo who, thus, took away the satisfaction of staying ahead in direct matches (3 wins 2). Pescara unlocked the result immediately (2′) with a header from Cuppone, positioned at the far post following a cross from Rafia. Foggia tried in every way to equalize but Bjarkason, Ogunseye, Petermann, Frigerio and the substitute Garattoni sinned in accuracy. Pescara didn’t stand by and came close to doubling their lead especially with Briosco (crossbar from a corner kick) and Merola who had his 2nd goal canceled in the 69th minute for offside.

Foggia equalized in the 97th minute thanks to an own goal from Brosco

In the end emotions in series. The Biancazzurri fans already trembled in the 81st minute when Ogunseye, who started on the counterattack, was pushed into the area by Boben: the referee first awarded the penalty then, following a signal from the linesman, whistled the AC Milan attacker to be offside . Just when all hope for Foggi seemed to have vanished, instead the 1-1 arrived: at the last ball (97′) Ogunseye acted as a tower in the middle for Rizzo, anticipated by Brosco who slipped the ball into his own brings.

Desogus is not enough for Pescara, Markic draws again

Pescara didn’t give up and in the 6th minute of the first overtime they got back on with substitute Desogus who, unmarked in the area by Rafia, got free with a feint from Rizzo and beat Dalmasso. Once again on the brink of the abyss, Foggia found the energy to equalize (115′) with a perfect header in advance on the near post by Markic from a corner from the right by Peralta. It went to penalties where, despite the mistakes of Garattoni and Ogunseye, Pescara failed to prevail. The mistakes of Cancellotti, Aloi and Desogus were decisive.

Lecco does the business in Cesena and dreams of the B after 51 years

The other semifinal, between Cesena and Lecco, also ended on penalties. The Lombards, defeated 1-2 in the first leg at home, accomplished the feat of overturning the result at Manuzzi, thanks to a goal in the 56th minute on the counterattack by Buso. In the lottery from the spot Mustacchio had his penalty saved by Melgrati allowing Lepore to bring Lecco to the final, keeping alive a dream awaited for 51 years.