San Marino’s painful 20-year wait for a win could FINALLY end tonight against Caribbean minnows Saint Kitts and Nevis… as FIFA’s bottom-ranked team head in as surprise favourites
- San Marino has a great chance of a rare victory against Saint Kitts & Nevis
- The European minnows last won a match in 2004 against Liechtenstein
- Ben White will regret rejecting England if they go on to win the European Championship It all starts podcast
San Marino’s players may have to pinch themselves for a huge chance of a first win in 20 years against Saint Kitts and Nevis on Wednesday night.
The European minnows – who are bottom of the 210-team FIFA rankings – have been backed as favorites by Sky bet despite being ranked 63rd among the Caribbean team in the FIFA world rankings.
The small country on Italy’s east coast is rated at 5/4, while Saint Kitts and Nevis have been given odds of 9/4 to inflict another defeat on San Marino during the international break.
Their last taste of victory came against Liechtenstein, but for that result you have to go all the way back to 2004, when they claimed a 1-0 win. That was their only victory in the country’s history.
137 games later, San Marino are still patiently waiting for what would be an incredible moment for their country.
San Marino will be hoping to record their first win in 20 years against Saint Kitts and Nevis
They are rated as favorites to beat the Caribbean side despite being 63 places above them in the rankings
In those two decades, they have only led for six minutes (against Malta in 2012) before losing that particular match 3-2.
San Marino, many of whose players play football part-time, cherishes these small moments. You only have to look at the way they celebrated their first goal in almost a year against Denmark in October.
Alessandro Golinucci sent his teammates into delirium by scoring the equalizer with a stunning volley to make the score 1-1.
It led to incredible scenes as he and his teammates were sent into ecstasy. Golinucci slid across the grass before landing at the bottom of a pile of players.
Unfortunately, their joy did not last as Denmark won the match 2-1 thanks to a goal from Yussuf Poulsen twenty minutes before the end. It was their first goal in twelve games in UEFA competitions alone.
The European minnows celebrated their first goal in almost a year against Denmark in October
San Marino has put an end to a number of problems in recent years, including a 10-0 defeat to England in 2021
Before that, San Marino last scored on November 17 last year in a 1-1 draw against Saint Lucia – and even that came in a dramatic 94th-minute equalizer from Lorenzo Lazzari.
San Marino has been involved in a number of heavy defeats in recent history, including the 10-0 defeat to England in a World Cup qualifier in November 2021.
Last year they were on the end of a number of other problems, including a 6-0 defeat to Finland and two 4-0 defeats to Denmark and Slovenia.
However, recent results are more encouraging. Since their narrow loss to Denmark, they have lost 3-1 to Kazakhstan and 2-1 to Finland.
Their opponents Saint Kitts and Nevis lost 5-0 to Guadeloupe last time out – which will give San Marino confidence. In the previous match they drew 0-0 against Saint Lucia, after which they lost 1-0 against Sint Maarten, which they defeated 3-2 in the previous match.