San Marino turns 20 years without a win into promotion and victory in just three months | Relief

According to Wikipedia, San Marino has 33,642 inhabitants.. Not many of them play football, at least not at a high level. Probably, none of their players would have found a place even in the RFEF Example. Or have we already forgotten about those nine Saudis who arrived with the expected level and did not play a single game as a starter in the first and second matches? Well the League of Nations changed history. Moreover, we can say that what happened to San Marino is literally a football story. A tribute to those of us who love this sport beyond winning. The competition that turned 25 anonymous people into absolute national heroes. A competition that allows kids to dream about everything, making them forget that it is impossible to take away a single goal from a great country.

Group 1 of League D of the Nations League ended with the exit of San Marino, the 210th team in the FIFA rankings or, in other words, the last. Of course they don’t vote for the Ballon d’Or. How did such a modest team achieve such scale? This is due to the nature of the tournament, in which the weakest teams are grouped into League D, in which they can move up to League C, where they will face teams of a much higher level. In this case they are also lucky, since Gibraltar and Liechtenstein are likely to be behind Malta or Moldova in the other group.

There is no need to take away even the slightest merit. San Marino finished the first leg with seven points from four games after losing 1-0 in Gibraltar, drawing 1-1 at home to the same opponents and beating Liechtenstein in both games. They gave it their all in this final match and responded with their best win of their entire career: 1-3. Until then, however, this may turn out to be a simple story disguised as literature and our intention to give the League of Nations a relevance that it actually does not have for almost any ordinary citizen. Right now, the small region of 33,000 people is meeting the stars.

Last March, San Marino caught a glimpse of glory by scheduling a double friendly against St. Kitts and Nevis, a country that is being studied at some other ESO center and whose existence you were only just reminded of if at any point you knew. His joy is in the well. They failed to win. Now you may be wondering: so what? This was the path they chose to turn around a painful situation that had lasted more than two decades..

Indeed, it is not for nothing that this is the worst choice in the FIFA rankings. But the League of Nations changed everything. Don’t we experience a derby against another team in our area as if it were a Real Madrid-Barça match, as if it were a Champions League final? Well, the only thing San Marino and Liechtenstein did was represent us, but in an official match, with the possibility of promotion. Is there anything more magical than the feeling of being represented on the field by real athletes?

This confrontation with Liechtenstein resulted in San Marino’s first victory in the previous 20 years, 4 months and 8 days.. An unusual event in the country. But they were not going to stop there. After adding three points, it was time to try to go on top, even if it was impossible, even if they had never won on the road. Seeing is believing. On this final day, a three to one win determines the following:

It is curious that San Marino’s other victory was achieved in 2004, also over Liechtenstein. Three victories in its entire history and always against the same opponent. The statistics are terrifying: 212 games played, including 3 wins, 10 draws and 199 losses.. And the scoring balance is another reason to blush: 39 goals for and 833 against.

If by now we have not convinced you of the historical significance of this meeting, we cannot do more. Just remember that San Marino has an unofficial account on social networks, promoted by a Spanish-speaking person and, of course, has nothing to do with the country itself. They have been accompanying the team’s exploits for many years. So much so that despite tweeting to the lower categories every minute without rest, today his tweets ended in the second half. There was no choice but to celebrate like there was no tomorrow.

Except, Italy will host a festive night as part of the Spanish Erasmus. As if they needed a reason to go there, they had already accompanied San Marino in their showdown with Gibraltar last week, and now they saw from their apartments and residences a triumph that was as unexpected as it was epic.

Because today not only San Marino won and were promoted, all those who lived the sport from below and celebrated a simple goal as if they had won the World Cup won..