England are preparing for the match with San Marino in World Cup qualification at Wembley.
San Marino are ranked as one of the worst sides in the FIFA World rankings, so a commanding victory is expected and if not delivered, will be criticised.
This isn’t the first time an English side has played one of the European minnows and although the right result has been recorded, sometimes the scoreline has left supporters disappointed.
Total Football’s Simon Wright looks back at some previous encounters between England and the European no-hopers.
San Marino
England 6-0 San Marino, World Cup qualification, 17 February 1993
San Marino 1-7 England, World Cup qualification, 17 November 1993
England’s previous meetings with San Marino came during the ill-fated qualification for the 1994 World Cup.
13 goals were scored, including four for Ian Wright in the final qualifier in Bologna but it is the goal conceded that is more remembered.
Davide Gualteri capitalised on a Stuart Pearce weak backpass to beat David Seaman in just 8.3 seconds. This is still the quickest goal in World Cup qualification history.
Graham Taylor who was already doomed by his incompetence as Three Lions manager was totally finished off by that humiliation.
Andorra
England 5-0 Andorra, European Championship qualification, 2 September 2006
Andorra 0-3 England, European Championship qualification, 28 March 2007
Andorra 0-2 England, World Cup qualification, 6 September 2008
England 6-0 Andorra, World Cup qualification, 10 June 2009
Against Andorra, four games and four victories with four clean sheets but the matches have produced a mixed bag of performances.
There haven’t been any problems at home. Two goals each from Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe helped England to a 5-0 victory in their opening Euro 2008 qualifier, also Steve McClaren’s first competitive game in charge as boss.
In Barcelona for the return in March 2007, players were booed off after a diabolical first 45 minutes but two second half goals from Steven Gerrard helped the Three Lions to an unimpressive 3-0 victory.
McClaren crumbled in the post-match news conference, walking out of it and saying this to the media:
“Gentlemen, if you want to write whatever you want to write, you can write it because that is all I am going to say. Thank you.”
Fabio Capello’s competitive reign began with an unconvincing 2-0 victory in September 2008 when Joe Cole’s second half double edged England home.
In June 2009, they cruised home 6-0 with Defoe and Wayne Rooney both scoring braces.
Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein 0-2 England, European Championship qualification, 29 March 2003
England 2-0 Liechtenstein, European Championship qualification, 10 September 2003
Qualification for Euro 2004 provided two victories against Liechtenstein but two very suspect performances.
A Michael Owen header and David Beckham free-kick edged the visitors to a 2-0 victory in Vaduz, as Liechtenstein defied their lowly ranking and created several good opportunities.
Perhaps Sven-Goran Eriksson’s sides lacked concentration against the minnows during the Swede’s reign because it wasn’t much better in the return at Old Trafford.
Second half goals from Owen and Rooney broke the resistance down, although this victory did set-up the infamous match with Turkey, where a point was required in Istanbul to successfully qualify for Euro 2004.
Malta
Malta 1-2 England, International friendly, 3 June 2000
In their last warm-up match before Euro 2000, Kevin Keegan’s side laboured to a fortunate 2-1 victory over their inferior opponents.
Martin Keown headed in a Beckham free-kick to break the deadlock but Malta equalised when Carabott drilled his spot-kick past Richard Wright.
Emile Heskey tapped in the winner on 75 minutes but Wright had to save a second Malta penalty late on to save Keegan’s blushes from a poor performance.
Kazakhstan
England 5-1 Kazakhstan, World Cup qualification, 11 October 2008
Kazakhstan 0-4 England, World Cup qualification, 6 June 2009
Kazakhstan have shown quite often that they are no slouches at this level and they gave England some problems in World Cup qualification for South Africa.
The first match at Wembley in October 2008 started poorly, with no goals before half-time.
Rio Ferdinand headed the opener shortly into the second half before Alexandr Kuchma powered the ball into his own net.
A drab mistake from Ashley Cole allowed the opponents back into the match through Zhambyl Kukeyev before two late Rooney goals (pictured) and a stoppage time strike from Defoe gave England a resounding win, although the scoreline flattered them slightly.
The away trip posed some early problems but after a sloppy opening 20 minutes, Gareth Barry eased the nerves with a header.
Further strikes from Heskey, Rooney and Frank Lampard helped Capello’s side to a 4-0 victory and maintained their 100 per cent record in the group.
Moldova
Moldova 0-3 England, World Cup qualification, 1 September 1996
England 4-0 Moldova, World Cup qualification, 10 September 1997
Moldova 0-5 England, World Cup qualification, 7 September 2012
Moldova have offered no problems for England, who have cruised to three resounding victories, the most recent was in September this year.
The first meeting in September 1996 was Glenn Hoddle’s first match in charge and saw a certain Beckham make his international debut.
Goals from Nick Barmby, Paul Gascoigne and newly appointed captain Alan Shearer helped England to a 3-0 victory, although the Moldovans missed a late penalty.
Ian Wright scored twice in the return fixture a year later, where Gascoigne was inspired in the 4-0 triumph on an emotional night at Wembley.
The fixture was played only days after the funeral of Princess Diana.
In September 2012, an early Lampard penalty settled any possible nerves against dreadful opponents.
The Chelsea midfielder added a second and efforts from Defoe, James Milner and Leighton Baines helped England ease to a 5-0 success.
Luxembourg
Luxembourg 0-3 England, European Championship qualification, 14 October 1998
England 6-0 Luxembourg, European Championship qualification, 4 September 1999
After a dreadful start to qualifying for Euro 2000, with just one point from two matches, England nearly faced further embarrassment when they gave away an early penalty to Luxembourg in October 1998.
The resulting spot-kick was missed and Owen put England ahead just before half-time. Shearer doubled the lead with his own penalty and a late strike from Gareth Southgate sealed a solid, if unspectacular victory.
By the time the September 1999 fixture came round, Hoddle was gone following some unsavoury comments about disabled people.
Keegan was in charge and he helped guide England to a resounding 6-0 success, scoring five in the first half alone.
Shearer smashed home a hat-trick and there were two goals from Steve McManaman.
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan 0-1 England, World Cup qualification, 13 October 2004
England 2-0 Azerbaijan, World Cup qualification, 30 March 2005
Another minnow and another side England failed to dispatch comfortably during the Sven era.
In poor weather conditions in Baku, stand-in captain Owen converted an Ashley Cole cross to settle the match in October 2004.
At St James’ Park in the corresponding fixture in March 2005, Azerbaijan survived 45 minutes of bombardment with some stout defending and excellent goalkeeping.
Quick fire strikes from Gerrard and Beckham in the second half helped England to a 2-0 victory but again, the fans were disappointed that not more goals were scored.
Often from these examples, England have won these games with something to spare but have given their far inferior opposition some unexpected opportunities which could have led to further embarrassment.
It is time for this England opposition to show no mercy against these sides and with Moldova brutally exposed in September, San Marino should fare even worse against Roy Hodgson’s side.
By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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