England v. San Marino Thursday 9th October 2014
European Championships Qualifying Group E
Wembley Stadium, London, England
San Marino continue their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign with the latest edition of what is becoming something of a regular fixture in European qualifying. Having met in the last round of qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, the two sides had also previously met famously in 1994 World Cup qualifying.
On those occasions, England won by six goals in both matches but of course it was San Marino’s goal through David Gualtieri which has remained in everyone’s memories; the fastest ever goal in World Cup football. Here it is again for your enjoyment/amusement/embarrassment: Continue reading →
This week sees San Marino’s hapless heroes entering the World Cup fray again with a double header of fixtures. A trip to Lviv in Ukraine is first up on Friday night for the first of two meetings with Ukraine in the next few weeks. Then on Tuesday it’s back home to entertain Poland. Hopes are not high.
This will be the first ever meeting between Ukraine and San Marino, but the nation ranked 28thin the world are unlikely to be worried about this one.
By contrast Tuesday sees the 8th meeting between Poland and San Marino, with the Sammarinese yet to find the net in the previous 7 defeats, with 28 goals finding the San Marino net.
Things have actually got worse over the years, after the first meeting in 1993 in a World Cup qualifier saw a mere 1-0 win for Poland in Lodz. But a 2010 World Cup qualifier in Kielce in 2009 saw a whopping 10-0 win for the Poles.
An interesting nugget of trivia? Poland have never qualified for a tournament when San Marino have been in their qualifying group. This is the fourth time they’ve been drawn together, and Poland’s qualification hopes are on a knife edge. History to repeat itself? You read it here first.
Most recently the teams meet back in march when Poland won 5-0 in Warsaw, but San Marino came damn close to scoring with a one-on-one breakaway sadly being saved.
26th March 2013
Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw
World Cup Qualifier
Poland v. San Marino
Next in line to give San Marino a tonking is a Poland team reeling from a disappointing home defeat to Ukraine last Friday which saw them drop to fourth place in the table and leaves their hopes of reaching the World Cup teetering on the brink.
So no doubt they will be looking for a confidence booster against San Marino and three points to make their position in the table look slightly rosier. Continue reading →
22nd March 2013
World Cup Qualifier
Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle
San Marino 0-8 England
Let’s just say that San Marino were lucky that England didn’t score more than eight. To say that this could easily have been ten or more is quite an understatement. Thankfully for San Marino, England had half an eye on the job they need to do in Montenegro on Tuesday; various changes through the second half to rest players for that game easing things off somewhat. Continue reading →
22nd March 2013
World Cup Qualifier
Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle
San Marino v. England
It’s time for more World Cup qualifiers in Europe and that means San Marino are back in action again, hosting England in Serravalle on Friday before a trip to Poland next week. For England it’s a guaranteed three points ahead of their big match with Montenegro next Tuesday, but for San Marino it’s a chance to be noticed on the big stage, and to do all they can to avoid a huge score. Continue reading →
16th October 2012
World Cup Qualifier
Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle
San Marino 0-2 Moldova
Ah the agony! With 20 minutes remaining, San Marino were well and truly in this one with the scores still at 0-0. A famous draw was so close you could almost touch it.
But the final twenty minutes told a familiar tale. As with the England match last week it took a penalty to break the deadlock, on this occasion substitute Serghei Dadu scored within a minute of coming on the pitch. Continue reading →
No rest for the wicked as San Marino are playing again on Tuesday in a home tie against Moldova. On paper this represents San Marino’s best prospect of avoiding defeat in this campaign, Moldova being significantly weaker than any of the other countries in the group.
Weak they may be, but they are still vastly superior to San Marino sadly, so when I say “best prospect” it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. It’s all relative. Moldova are currently 141st in the world which makes them one of Europe’s weakest, but still quite a bit higher up than San Marino. Continue reading →
14th August 2012
Friendly
Stadio Olimpico di Serravalle, Serravalle, San Marino
San Marino 2 – 3 Malta
Oh the agony. So close and yet so far for San Marino as they fall just short of a historic non-defeat to Malta. Scoring an almost unprecedented two goals couldn’t prevent a loss to the relative might of Malta in Serravalle, and so San Marino will remain rooted to the foot of the world rankings for the foreseeable future.
Things has started out astonishingly well when in only the 7thminute Manuel Marani gave San Marino the lead. However it didn’t last long, with Malta equalising 6 minutes later through Michael Mifsud thanks to a bit of dodgy goalkeeping, and then taking the lead through Andrei Agius to lead 2-1 at the break.
Five minutes from time, Mifsud added a third for Malta, meaning that Danilo Rinaldi’s stoppage time penalty for San Marino was mere consolation.
Step this way for highlights…
So sadly San Marino narrowly miss the chance to pick up some ranking points, but let’s not condemn them having come so close. I sincerely hope that this fixture is a sign of things to come in future, in terms of arranging a few friendly matches against opposition of a similar (or let’s face it, slightly better) standing. Morale, and ranking points, need some games where San Marino can actually attack on occasion rather than the default qualifying match scenario of desperately trying to avoid a humping.
So it’s on to the World Cup qualifiers next for San Marino, which sees a return to action next month at home to Montenegro. The group also contains Poland, Moldova, Ukraine and England. Oh well…
San Marino
A. Simoncini (F. Valentini 46), F. Vitaioli (D. Vannucci 63), M. Palazzi, M. Cervellini, D. Simoncini, A. Della Valle (C. Brolli 46), E. Cibelli (A. Bianchi 46), A. Gasperoni, D. Rinaldi, M. Mariani (S. Bacciocchi 79), M. Vitaioli (M. Muraccini 71).
Malta
A. Hogg, A. Muscat (J. Mintoff 86), G. Sciberras, A. Agius, D. Bogdanovic, R. Briffa (S. Bajada 46), M. Mifsud (P. Fenech 86), A. Cohen, A. Schembri (E. Barbara 46), R. Camilleri (L. Dimech 54), S. Borg (R. Fenech 62).
Tuesday 14th August will see San Marino take the field in what is possibly their most exciting fixture in years. To the rest of the world it may only be a friendly match between two of Europe’s worst footballing nations, but to us it’s a real opportunity for San Marino to finally score some ranking points.
San Marino will face Malta at home in the Stadio Olimpico di Serravalle in what will be the first meeting of those two nations. Continue reading →
