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San Marino missed a golden chance to claim their first win in 20 years on Wednesday night – as they slumped to a 3-1 defeat by Caribbean minnows Saint Kitts and Nevis.
World football’s basement boys had gone ahead with a first-half penalty by Filippo Berardi but conceded three goals in a 17-minute spell either side of half time.
It was a particularly crushing disappointment given that San Marino, ranked 210th and last in FIFA’s rankings, had been Sky Bet’s favourites to claim a rare scalp.
The only saving grace for San Marino is that they get to do it all over again on Sunday, when they once again host the Caribbeans.
San Marino did their best against Saint Kitts and Nevis but lost the chance to claim a first win in 20 years
Filippo Berardi scored an early penalty to put them ahead but their lead only lasted 10 minutes
They were undone by simple mistakes and lost 3-1, though they will meet again on Sunday
Their last taste of victory came against Liechtenstein, but you have to go all the way back to 2004 for that result, which saw them claim a 1-0 win. That was the only win in the country’s history.
Their winless run has reached a whopping 137 games. For context, the next-longest current dry spell is 35 games, held by Liechtenstein and Anguilla.
Until Wednesday night, across two decades they had led for just six minutes – against Malta in 2012 – before losing that particular game 3-2.
San Marino were living the dream as they had their noses in front for 10 minutes against Saint Kitts and Nevis, but it wasn’t to be.
Just 10 minutes after they huddled are in the corner to celebrate Berardi’s spot-kick, there was devastation as Tyquan Terrell sliced home for the visitors after some confusion in the box.
Saint Kitts and Nevis went 2-1 up on the stroke of half-time as Andre Burley bundled home following a comical error from goalkeeper Edoardo Colombo.
The final nail in the coffin came in the 48th minute when Harry Panayiotou slammed home at the near post to make it 3-1.
All the same, San Marino were delighted to even have a goal. When Berardi scored, he celebrated with a knee slide and was piled on by his team-mates.
Harry Panayiotou was clearly delighted to score the third against the European minnows
San Marino’s form has been improving and they have now scored in four consecutive games
San Marino have been involved in some heavy defeats in recent memory – notably being demolished 10-0 by England in a World Cup qualifier in November 2021.
Last year they were on the end of some other hammerings – including a 6-0 loss to Finland and two 4-0 losses to Denmark and Slovenia.
However, recent results have been more encouraging. A 3-1 loss to Denmark was extremely passable, and they have since fallen 3-1 to Kazakhstan and 2-1 to Finland.
Considering that in their first 37 years they scored 30 goals, a haul of four goals in their last four games is very impressive.
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