Every football match has plenty of statistics that can make you into one of the brainiest at football knowledge.
To get you upto speed for England’s World Cup qualifier against San Marino, Total Football’s Simon Wright has picked out 15 useful stats to look out for.
1. England have played San Marino twice before and won both games. The first was a 6-0 victory at Wembley in February 1993 before a 7-1 success in Bologna in November 1993.
2. In the 7-1 victory, Stuart Pearce’s dreadful backpass attempt allowed Davide Gualteri in to score for the minnows. The goal arrived after 8.3 seconds, still the fastest ever strike in FIFA World Cup qualifying history.
3. Joleon Lescott (pictured) has played more minutes for England in the Roy Hodgson era. The Manchester City defender has taken part in 759 minutes of action.
4. In their last five matches, San Marino have scored just two goals and conceded 29. Unsurprisingly, they lost all five of these matches.
5. If Wayne Rooney scores at least one goal in this match, he will reach a tally of 30 goals for his country, matching the tallies of Alan Shearer, Tom Finney and Nat Lofthouse.
6. The manager of San Marino is Giampaolo Mazza. He has been in charge of the tiny republic since 1998 and his day job is as a PE teacher at a local school in the country.
7. San Marino’s current FIFA world ranking is the lowest since becoming a recognised nation in 1988. They are currently joint 207th, with only Turks & Caicos Islands below them.
8. England have won 12 of their last 14 World Cup qualifying matches. Only Ukraine has avoided defeat in that period and that was on two separate occasions.
9. Since Roy Hodgson took charge of the national team in May, England are unbeaten in his tenure. They have won six and drawn three, although one of those draws was the penalty shootout loss to Italy in the Euro 2012 quarter-finals.
10. The population of San Marino is around 30,000, almost the same capacity of Southampton’s St Mary’s Stadium.
11. San Marino have taken part in 114 games as an international side. They have lost 108 of these matches.
12. In each of the two previous meetings between England and San Marino, an English player has scored four goals in a match. The players in question are David Platt and Ian Wright.
13. In 23 away World Cup qualifiers, San Marino have lost 22 and earned just one draw, which was a 1-1 stalemate with Latvia in 2001.
14. The man in form for England is Jermain Defoe. The Tottenham ace has scored an impressive 17 times in his last 19 matches for the Three Lions.
15. In their last 14 World Cup qualifying matches, San Marino have only scored once.
By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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