Ternana – Catanzaro 05-05-2024 Serie B
The thirty-seventh day of the cadet tournament will be played simultaneously at 3pm on Sunday, on the canonical football day, as happened before the advent of pay TV. One hundred and eighty minutes until the end of the championship which can make fans and clubs happy or thrown into total despair. So far this championship has issued only two verdicts, the relegation of Lecco and the promotion to the top flight of the Emilian side Parma, I instead decide to follow Ternana-Catanzaro, two teams in diametrically opposite positions, with the third-to-last Fere alternating unthinkable away victories with incredible home debacles risking seriously compromising their salvation, while the newly promoted Catanzaro, the real surprise of this tournament, fifth in the standings, is already sure of competing in the well-deserved play-offs.
Terni welcomes me with a warm and pleasant sun and my walk from the station to the stadium is accompanied by a city in continuous transformation and by the memories of two precedents between these two teams that I had the opportunity to witness, starting from the last day of 2004/2005: Catanzaro bringing up the rear and having been relegated for some time, Ternana as it hadn’t been seen for some time and which then finished the tournament in eighth place (at the time there were 22 teams); match which followed again in the following championship, by virtue of the Calabrian repechage due to the failures of Perugia, Salernitana and Venice: this match was also played in the last days, always with Catanzaro last and already relegated as happened to Ternana at the end of the season but which at least, unlike the Calabrians, he avoided the shame of failure.
Although today’s match plays a crucial role, for the umpteenth time it is altered by the competent bodies(?), who set the maximum number of tickets reserved for Calabrian supporters at 600. Meaningless limits that vary from time to time and from fan to fan, and which are then denied by the box office: of the 6,136 total spectators, 639 are the guests who take their seats in the lower part of the sector. More than late mental elasticity, it seems like authoritarian schizophrenia.
The red-green people, although present in greater numbers than in the recent past, however seem far from enthusiastic about the path of the Fere. Fortunately, the ultras compensate for the gaps in all sectors of the stadium, always showing up in good shape and ready for anything. At 3pm, when the teams enter the pitch, the home East and North corners are colored with the usual flags, the same scene that can be seen in the yellow-red sector.
In the first twenty minutes of the first half, both sides cheered with excellent choral intensity, making themselves heard vehemently, then the cheering stabilized but the decibels did not drop much. Flags always flying in the wind and clapping performed several times will be the lead motive of the day with the East which is slightly less continuous but no less competitive and indeed, at the half hour mark it displays a banner for Luny, one of its missing brothers. In the meantime, the guests also get very busy, managing several times to involve the sector above, par excellence the less hot one. Immediately afterwards, caught up in the excitement, they light a red and a yellow smoke bomb and a few seconds later, another red one marks the end of the first half.
The second half, in my humble opinion, is the most explosive, especially among the local supporters, while overall it will be more pyrotechnic in all sectors. But if in the first minutes the support was very promising, as was the play on the pitch, as time passed Catanzaro moved their center of gravity back, as if to slow down and be satisfied with the result. The two Terni curves understand that this is the moment to push and the Curva Nord tries to give the charge by exploding two powerful firecrackers and lighting two nice red-green smoke bombs. The intensity thus rises again on the Terni side, while the people of Catanzaro, until now authors of superlative cheering, made up of continuous flag-waving and lots of handclapping to accompany the chants, seem to slightly decrease in intensity and the choir throwers are good at resting the voice, replacing it with clapping and “reprise” chants.
The North takes the time to lower the flags and sing a loud and powerful chorus to remember the unforgettable Fabio, the East raises the level and is more continuous, on the pitch however, twelve minutes from the end, a splendid play from the new player Dionisi frees Distefano who, with a great right under the crossroads, makes the red-green people explode with joy. Compact celebration under the East, sector closest to the gate just violated, immediately after the curves they will start cheering again with great enthusiasm and a considerable number of claps. Another torch for the Curva Est while the Catanzaro players, regardless of the disadvantage, after having sketched out a not too thick scarf, compensated by the flags, will in turn resort to a bit of pyrotechnics.
Towards the end of the race, three aircraft will also arrive to color the sky with red-green smoke bombs and greet the imminent conquest of the three precious points which, after five minutes of injury time, become reality. At the end of the match the players go to get the deserved applause in their respective sectors where, once the teams return to the changing rooms, chants will be sung against their historic rivals: Perugia on one side and Cosenza on the other.
With ninety minutes to go the championship is preparing to issue other verdicts such as the relegation of Feralpisalò and the mathematical fifth place of Catanzaro, while at the end things are more complicated with four teams within three points: Ascoli, Bari, Ternana and Spezia they will have to sell their lives dearly if they want to save themselves, one will be directly relegated, for two others there will be a play out and only one of all will be directly saved. Just wait until Friday, after which we will have all the verdicts revealed: that’s ninety minutes that can be worth a season!
Marco Gasparri
I like:
I like Loading…