San Marino aim for damage limitation

The San Marinese are the most consistent national team in Europe. They never win and hardly ever score. Ranked 158th in the FIFA world rankings - the lowest position of any UEFA nation - their primary goal on the pitch is pure and simple: damage limitation.

Sensational draw
Defeats by just one or two goals are triumphs and the one point they managed in the qualifying campaign for the FIFA World Cup 2002 - a sensational 1-1 draw in Latvia - was only the second time in their history that they had managed to avoid defeat.

Plucky goalkeeper 
Not surprisingly their recent form is a tale of goals, goals, goals and more goals - mostly having to be picked out of the back of the net by their plucky ‘keeper Frederico Gasperi, whose heroics have on occasion prevented double-figure scores being rattled up by their opponents. “I managed to complete my objective,” said Gasperi, after a typically overwhelming 9-0 World Cup thrashing at the hands of Spain, a stoical sentiment echoed by his manager, Giampaolo Mazza. “We knew what was coming,” he said. “It really wasn’t that humiliating.”

World’s oldest republic
Of course the world’s smallest and oldest republic is impossibly hampered by having a population of just 27,336 of which only one, Andy Selva, is a professional footballer. Indeed a rough analysis of the population figures suggests that if you are male and aged between 15 and 35 you have about a one-in-250 chance of being picked for the national squad - even if you are blind (it is not, however, clear how many referees there are).

First ever point 
San Marino’s first point in international football came with a 0-0 draw against Turkey in a World Cup qualifier in 1993 and they had to wait until April 2001 for another. The Group Six match in Latvia had begun in familiar fashion when the Latvians romped into a first-minute lead and then spent the rest of the match threatening more. Somehow Gasperi bravely kept them out and then - amazingly - Nicola Albi grabbed an unlikely equaliser with a close-range header in the 59th minute and the Sammarinese hung on for the draw.

Encouraging signs
If success for San Marino is keeping their goals against column as low as possible then encouragement can be gleaned from their performances over the past four years. In the qualifying competition for EURO 2000™ they scored just one goal and conceded 44 whereas in the World Cup campaign they managed three goals, shipping just 30 - and of course they got that precious point against Latvia.

Eventful start 
Their EURO 2000™ campaign got off to an eventful start with Mauro Valentini scoring in the Group Six match against Israel - sadly it was an own goal in a 5-0 defeat. San Marino also lost the return fixture in Tel Aviv 8-0 (when Selva was sent off with the score just 6-0). Other defeats were inflicted by Spain (9-0 and 6-0), Cyprus (4-0 and, more encouragingly, 1-0) and Austria 9-0 and 4-1. The highlight of the campaign was the home game against Austria. The plucky part-timers had held the visitors until as late as the 58th minute and then (admittedly when 4-0 down) Selva stroked home only San Marino’s sixth-ever goal from the penalty spot with nine minutes to go.

More to cheer
There was even more to cheer in the World Cup - in addition to the draw against Latvia. Despite a 10-1 thrashing by Belgium (in which Selva scored from a free-kick) nobody else in Group Six managed to score more than four against them. Indeed, Scotland were held for 70 minutes before running out unconvincing 2-0 winners in San Marino (the Scots’ 4-0 win in the return was marred by an ugly incident in which Albi appeared to be elbowed in the face); Croatia were limited to two 4-0 victories and ten-man Latvia managed to stumble to a 1-0 win in San Marino before being held in the return.

Close matches 
The Sammarinese managed some kind of revenge against Belgium for the 10-1 thrashing when they scored - Selva again (his three career strikes representing a third of all goals ever scored by his nation) - in the return match. Austria, predictably, had gone ahead after just ten minutes but Selva shocked them straight from the restart to fire home an equaliser. The Austrians then laboured until the 61st minute before they again took the lead.

One day a win will come 
One day, one team, caught similarly cold, won’t be able to respond and San Marino will claim another point - or maybe, even, one day, all three. Europe will surely cheer them when they do.