San Marino took the first victories in its history in competitive matches in the fall League of Nations.
The San Marino national football team’s historic autumn culminated late on Monday when they defeated Liechtenstein 3-1 to move past Gibraltar by a point to win the D-League Group One in the Nations League.
The victory was the second in history for San Marino, which is ranked last in the Fifa ranking, ranked 210th, in a competitive match and the first on an away field.
It took its opening victory in September in its opening game of the Nations League – even then against Liechtenstein (200th in the Fifa ranking).
Liechtenstein led the match after the first half 1–0, but San Marino rose to the occasion and passed Lorenzo Lazzari, Nicola Nanni and Alessandro Golinucci with goals.
– The result of the first half was an insult to football, but the boys were brilliant and deserve this achievement, head coach Roberto Cevoli quoth.
With his hit, Nanni rose to shared second place on the all-time scorers list of San Marino. He has scored three national team goals. Record holder Andy Selva completed his career with eight goals for San Marino.
The best team in history?
San Marino will move up to the C level of the Nations League, where Finland will also play. President of the San Marino Football Association Marco Tura sensitized after the historic victory.
– These boys made history today. They showed what they are worth as people, athletes and men. I cried with them, Tura expressed.
The feat also excited San Marino’s unofficial social media fan account, whose updater pounded messaging service X with updates in capital letters as the match progressed.
– We win two matches a year, and that’s no dream! This is absolutely crazy, we are the best team in history, the account was toasted after the 3-1 goal.
When the final whistle blew, the account was only shown hitting the keyboard in random order with the caps lock button at the bottom.
San Marino’s fan account on the messaging service X has already become a phenomenon in football circles. Going on that social media channel was also funny a year ago with the Huuhkajat match.