Liechtenstein dream of miracles

Imagine the scene. Ten minutes into the second half and Germany are being pushed back into their own half when Mario Frick pounces to score and puts the minnows of Liechtenstein back into the game at 2-2. Which way would the match go now? Could the Germans wrest back control or could Liechtenstein pull off the most amazing result in their history?

Hopes dashed in Freiburg 
That was indeed the situation in Freiburg in June 2000 but, alas, that was also just about as good as it got for the tiny principality over the last four years. And, all right, so it was just a friendly. And, yes, the Germans did run out 8-2 winners (even if five of the goals did come in the last 10 minutes).

No easy games
There are no easy games in international football, according to just about every manager, coach and player ever to pontificate on the matter but Liechtenstein proved during the qualifying campaign for both Euro 2000 (goal difference minus 37) and the FIFA World Cup 2002 (goal difference minus 23) some games are easier than others.

Chinese conundrum 
It would be asking a lot of a country with a population of just 32,015 to challenge the best in the world - although it is worth mentioning that one of the only four wins they have managed to chalk up in their entire history came with a 2-0 win in 1982 against China, population 1,261,832,482(and rising).

Success of a sort
Having said that, the qualifying tournament for EURO 2000™ represented Liechtenstein best campaign ever as they finished with four points from their 10 matches. They even managed to record their first-ever win in a competitive match - a 2-1 victory against Azerbaijan in Vaduz - Mario Frick, with a 47th minute penalty and Martin Telser two minutes later being the players to write their names large in their country's footballing hall of fame. Liechtenstein also managed to hold Hungary to a 0-0 draw when the 10-0-0 formation of coach Ralf Loose stayed unusually firm for the entire 90 minutes for a change.

Defensive tactics 
Loose had an endearing policy of being totally up front about his team's tactics of "conceding as few goals as possible" and their defensive outlook often frustrated opponents (for a while anyway). Against Portugal, for example, the match was still goalless after 29 minutes - a shame about the eight goals that followed.

Excellent goalkeeping 
Not surprisingly, given their limited striking ambitions (the two goals against Azerbaijan being the only times they found the net in either qualifying campaign) the star of the team was often their teenage goalkeeper, Peter Jehle, who time and time again produced a string of fine saves to keep the deficit in single figures.

Unpleasant statistics 
For the record, Liechtenstein's EURO 2004™ campaign produced an avalanche of goals against, the minnows losing to the Group Seven winners Romania (7-0 away, 3-0 at home), Portugal (8-0 away, 5-0 home), Slovakia (4-0 home, 2-0 away), Hungary (5-0 away) and Azerbaijan (4-0 away).

World Cup whitewash
Sadly, their attempt to qualify for the World Cup finals was even more disastrous and they emerged pointless. Spain, the eventual Group Seven winners, beat them 5-0 and 2-0; Austria (less than impressively it must be said) 1-0 and 2-0; Israel 2-0 and 3-0; and Bosnia-Herzegovina 3-0 and 5-0.

Anger in Tel-Aviv 
Any success, if it could be called that, was limited to a "goal" ruled out for offside in Tel-Aviv, the fact that Israel were booed off by their own fans after their 2-0 victory plus the fact that a frustrated Austrian coach was forced to admit his team was "anything but good" in their two matches against them. Unfortunately, for Liechtenstein, even that proved to be too good.