England face San Marino in a World Cup qualifier on Friday at Wembley, with nothing else but a landslide English victory expected against a side ranked outside FIFA’s top 200.
It is always dangerous to predict games on paper but there is probably more chance of an individual winning the National Lottery than San Marino ever reaching the World Cup.
You can’t fault the plucky minnows as they always try their hardest to upset the odds but the quality simply isn’t there.
Total Football’s Simon Wright looks into San Marino’s international football history and some background into the country England will be playing on Friday.
Lack of success
The San Marino international football team has experienced very little success due to the tiny population of the republic, the smallest of any country within UEFA.
In fact with a population of around 30,000 people – it has a smaller population than towns in the UK such as Corby, Tamworth and Stevenage.
Current head coach Giampaolo Mazza has an almost impossible job to extract any proven quality from his players who are mainly amateurs.
For them, an experience on Friday at Wembley is likely to be the biggest milestone of their football careers.
Since becoming a UEFA nation in 1988, San Marino have only ever won one match and drawn five – meaning stunning results have been in very rare commodity.
Currently ranked 207th in the world, which is their lowest ever FIFA ranking, this statistic is a fair reflection on a poor side that always tries its hardest but is very unlikely to achieve much more than just taking part.
Their highest ranking came in September 1993, when they were 118th in the world and experienced a higher ranking than the likes of Slovenia, Belarus and the Ukraine.
However, highlights have been rare since their first official game in competition action which was a 4-0 defeat to Switzerland in a 1990 European Championship qualifier.
Rare highlights
San Marino gained affiliation into the football governing bodies FIFA and UEFA in 1988, allowing the team to compete in major championships.
Prior to this decision, Sammarinese players were considered as Italian in international footballing circles.
There have predominantly been rare highlights for the Sammarinese public but they have given a few established nations a harrowing experience over the years.
In qualifying for their first World Cup in 1993, they may have conceded 46 goals in 10 matches but left England feeling rather red faced.
In their final qualifier, a terrible backpass by Stuart Pearce allowed Davide Gualteri to score the fastest goal in World Cup qualifying history.
Despite losing the match 7-1, the game is more remembered for this moment, which arrived after just 8.3 seconds.
Legendary BBC commentator John Motson was so stunned, he uttered the words: “And San Marino have scored…I don’t believe this!”
In this campaign, they also drew 1-1 with Turkey to earn their first ever qualifying point.
Irish criticism
Most qualifying attempts have seen San Marino lose every single game. This feat happened for Euro 96, World Cup 1998, Euro 2000 and Euro 2008.
Along the way, they have taken some hammerings including a record 13-0 defeat to Germany on 6 September 2006, in qualification for Euro 2008.
They have also lost 10-0 to Norway and Poland before and 11-0 to Holland in the last qualifying tournament for the European Championships.
In April 2001, they achieved their first ever away point which was a 1-1 draw in World Cup qualification with Latvia in Riga.
After failing to beat the tiny republic, Latvia manager Gary Johnson resigned in disgrace.
In February 2007, the Republic of Ireland avoided narrow humiliation when Stephen Ireland’s injury time goal earnt them a 2-1 victory over the minnows.
Manager of the Irish at the time, Steve Staunton received some serious stick from the press back home and rightly so, as most media outlets expect a side to beat San Marino by at least four goals and that’s on a bad night.
Liechtenstein is the only side to have suffered the indignity of losing to San Marino.
A fifth minute goal from the country’s record goalscorer Andy Selva earnt San Marino a 1-0 friendly victory on the 28th April 2004. It was their first victory at the 65th attempt of asking.
Low crowds
Home games are typically played at the Stadio Olimpico. No, that’s not the one in Italy used by Lazio and AS Roma by the way!
It is home to club side San Marino Calcio and has a tiny capacity of just 7,000. On some occasions, the away support outnumbers the home crowd.
For example, 3,294 fans witnessed the San Marino v Republic of Ireland fixture in February 2007 and 2,500 of the spectators were Irish.
In the FIFA World rankings, their average position has been 159th since they were created in 1992.
They love their football in this country and together with basketball and baseball, is among the most popular sports in the tiny republic.
You can’t fault the enthusiasm the players show when playing for San Marino.
They will always give it their best shot but ultimately, they just aren’t good enough at this level.
England will be hoping for no banana skins again on Friday evening.
Some facts about San Marino
Not many will know a great deal about San Marino as a country, so here are 10 unique facts to remember for the future.
• The capital is the City of San Marino.
• Their official language is Italian.
• Despite not being a member of the European Union, Sammarinese people are still allowed to use the Euro currency.
• Sammarinese people drive on the right-hand side of the public roads.
• Today, there is no major railway or international airport in the country.
• San Marino used to have the title of a Formula One Grand Prix although the event itself was held in the Italian town of Imola, 100km North West of San Marino. The race was last held in 2006.
• Citizens aged 18 years or older are eligible to vote.
• San Marino is entirely composed of hills with no natural level ground. It is the third smallest country in Europe, with only Monaco and the Vatican City being smaller.
• Unlike most of the European heavyweights, San Marino has a stable economy, with no national debt and one of the lowest unemployment rates within Europe.
• San Marino has never won a medal at the Olympic Games, although Alessandra Perilli came closest in the Women’s Trap Shooting final at London 2012. Unfortunately, Perilli was the first to miss in a shoot-off for the silver and bronze medals, meaning she finished fourth.
To see San Marino score the fastest goal in World Cup qualifying history and highlights of England’s academic 7-1 win in November 1993 with Sky Sports commentary, visit YouTube
By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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