In the most recent Fifa ranking, the Titan national team is in place 210 out of 210.Only last year they drew twice in a row, in the Nations League
The San Marino national team is not a formidable opponent for Italy, at least on paper. He occupies the 210th place (out of 210) in the last Fifa ranking and in its thirty-year history (debut on November 14, 1990 against Switzerland, game lost 4-0) has always lost, except in 2004 against Liechstein in a friendly (1- 0). One victory, one.
In all there are forty consecutive defeats until last year when she managed to draw (0-0), in the Uefa Nations League, first against Liechtenstein, then against Gibraltar, another 0-0. In truth, the San Marino players managed to grab some other draws in their history: the 0-0 in 1993 with Turkey (qualifying for USA ’94), then the 1-1 in Latvia in 2001, the 2-2 with the Liechtenstein in another friendly in 2003, and in 2014 against Estonia, always 0-0.
The two draws last year against Liechtenstein and Gibraltar in the Nations League represented a real victory for the national team of the village of just 35 thousand souls. A breath of fresh air after a negative streak that had lasted for 40 games, a six-year long fast. But there is a but. The goal is still missing. The last one dates back to November 16, 2019 on the occasion of the qualifiers for the 2020 European Championships: a defeat, yes, but by 1-3 against Kazakhstan. Now he expects that to come too. Maybe in Cagliari against Italy, to dispel a taboo.
Once Italy played against the San Marino national team in a friendly match in Cesena. It was Sacchi’s third match on the bench. Italy won 4-0 with Roberto Baggio who scored a brace. Even then, with the former Juventus player Massino Bonini captain in the middle of the field (who would later also become coach) the San Marino players resisted for almost a while. Their way of saying to the world: hey, we are here too.
The truth is that football, in San Marino, is little more than a hobby, nothing to do with the star signings of our local players, those of the Premier League, of the La Liga.
The new San Marino coach Franco Varrella, a past as Arrigo Sacchi’s deputy during the qualifying round at Euro ’96, is trying to change course, launching many young players from the Under 21 team. “We are an anomaly – they explain from San Marino -. If in the other federations the physical and technical peak is reached in the major national teams, we touch it in the Under 21. We are almost all amateurs and the older people have less time to train. They leave work at 7pm and have a family at home to think about. Young people, on the other hand, still aspire to become professionals: their life is football ».
Among them, the nineteen year old Nicola Nanni, launched in the national team by Varrella and today at Monopoli, on loan from Crotone. The forward is one of the three San Marino professionals: to keep him company, Filippo Berardi, Vibonese midfielder, and Elia Benedettini, Novara goalkeeper. For everyone else, football comes after work. A passion that, during the year, finds vent in the San Marino domestic championship, comparable to a Promotion.