While successfully regaining the Serie A title with Calcio the national side were attempting to qualify for the 2030 world cup in Spain. After a fantastic showing in the European League there was a chance that we might be able to get a second placed finish in the group. Maybe. Just Maybe. I dared to dream.
San Marino were seeded third for the draw meaning we would have to pull of some sort of an upset or have a favourable draw in order to finish inside the top two. Luck was on my side as we were drawn in a group with Holland, Greece, Moldova and Malta. Greece and Holland were both undoubtedly talented but they were both good sides as opposed to great. Perhaps my hope wasn’t totally misplaced.
The first game in the group would be a great test of our abilities as we had an away trip to Holland with a full strength squad. Setting up in our familiar counter attacking style relying on Tamagnini and Reggini to do the majority of the goal scoring we began our campaign.
Catching Holland half asleep the veteran winger Berardi scored his 9th international goal in his 99th game to give San Marino a shock lead after just 2 minutes. What a start! Holland really couldn’t get going even after this goal and Reggini ran through the heart of the Dutch defence to score a second goal on 18 minutes to send my tentative hopes sky high.
This goal finally galvanised Holland after a very poor opening 20 minutes and they hit back hard. Tottenham striker van Meighem tore us apart exposing our very fragile defence and scoring two goals in the process, pegging us back to 2-2. Eventually San Marino settled back down and even took the lead again on 40 minutes thanks to an own goal. This lead was once again short lived however as van Meighen completed a first half hat trick with the very last kick of the half to make it 3-3 at half time.
After such a breathless first half the pace was much slower after half time. It even looked as if San Marino could come away with a point from this game until the 70th minute when Benninga scored the decisive 4th goal to win the game for Holland.
San Marino had to recover quickly from this result as their next game was against Greece. Defeat here would leave us with an uphill battle to finish in the top two.
Fortunately they did just that. Spurred on by a boisterous crowd at home and with Reggini taking the game to Greece we came through the game as easy 3-0 winners. Despite both sides having relatively young squads the San Marino squad consisted of much more attacking pace and international experience which they used to full effect with Reggini scoring two before assisting Francini to score his 23rd goal for his country.
Qualification was definitely on the cards here assuming we didn’t suffer catastrophic results against the groups minnows who we were playing in our next two fixtures. First up was a trip to Moldova who qualified for Euro 2020 way back when! Sadly in the month before the game one of our better CM’s and dead ball specialist Alberto Mariotti suffered a serious injury set back as he damaged his cruciate ligaments in training to rule him out for 7 months and the remainder of the campaign.
Fortunately for me this Moldovan team are a shadow of their former selves consisting of no real quality players. This game passed without any real flash points and San Marino won comfortably 2-0 without ever really being put under any significant pressure, perfect preparation for group minnows Malta.
A win against Malta should be a foregone conclusion these days and I could only hope that with games against Greece and Holland coming up next we didn’t pick up any more major injuries or suspensions. We started quickly with Pelliccioni and Francini scoring inside the opening ten minutes. Malta continued to have misery piled on them as Tamagnini, Reggini and then Reggini again scored first half goals. The game had become a rout despite Malta scoring a consolation goal at the start of the second half.
Unfortunately this was the last goal but not the last incident of note. Pellicioni picked up a booking before I could take him off the pitch giving him a one game suspension. The bad news didn’t end there as Francini then pulled up injured with a groin tear on 57 minutes. This injury would rule him out for 9 whole weeks which included both of the next two qualifiers against Holland and Greece. Our midfield was looking short on experience heading into the two biggest games in my international career so far.
Sadly, disaster stuck again just a few weeks before the Holland game. Tamagnini (my all time leading scorer for club and country) pulled up in training with shin splints ruling him out for 6 weeks which included both of the next two qualifiers. Shit.
Next up were Holland. Currently San Marino sat in second place behind them and it looked likely that we would need to win 3 out of our last 4 games in order to finish somewhere in the top two of the group. My squad made for grim reading. I was missing my two most experienced and best midfielders, my most experienced goalscorer and my first back up option in midfield. With such a threadbare team I had to resort to a creative formation in order to paper over the gaping holes in my team.
The above monstrosity would be totally reliant on one player performing above himself. Reggini would be tasked with either; holding the ball up long enough for a midfield runner to join him or going full wildcard and running through the defence alone. I hope his back was ready as he would be carrying the team for 90 minutes.
My central midfield consisted of Amici (8 caps), Bonafizi and Cevoli (21 caps each) way short of the three players they had replaced. Bonafizi and Cevoli would undoubtedly be the future of my team but they were in no way the finished article but they were my only option for this game. As for my LW Andreini this was his first start for several years and his career had wound down to the point that he was now warming the bench for Shrewsbury in English League 1.
The game started with San Marino sitting deep with the exception of Reggini. This forced Holland into taking long shots or going wide and putting crosses into the box which Gallo was equal to. The first defensive lapse came on 15 minutes as Kok played a through ball to Nouri who took a shot towards the top corner which Gallo somehow tipped round the post. It was the first significant chance of the half and would have cost us a goal if not for a great save. We would need to be on the ball or Holland would surely take advantage.
We managed to get to half time at 0-0 with no more major chances against us so I elected to make no changes. By contrast Holland came out looking to attack more aggressively which should give Reggini many more opportunities to run at their defence.
On 49 minutes this extra space proved crucial as Regginu was hauled down on the corner of the Dutch box to give Berardi a chance to whip a free kick into the box. CB Luca Zanotti slipped in behind his marker to nod a great cross straight into the net! The tiny San Marino stadium was bouncing as our first shot on target resulted in our first goal!
Clearly shocked by this goal Holland became a little ragged allowing San Marino A true foothold in the game for the first time. With Holland clearly off their game Berardi once again took full advantage of a crossing opportunity to whip a ball in from deep. His magnificent cross found Reggini (who else) in space who took a touch before lashing the ball into the net. We had half an hour to defende a 2-0 lead! This went way beyond any of my wildest dreams!
Our two goal lead lasted until the 68th minute. Gallo pulled off yet another magnificent save from a square ball to concede a corner. Unfortunately his hard work was for nothing in this instance as Zeeman headed in from the corner to set up a very nervy last 20 minutes or so.
In this period of the game Gallo continued to be superb as Holland rained more shots and crosses onto goal. Our only chance fell to Fantini who nearly sealed the game when hit the post from a counter attack after Holland threw everyone forward. By this stage Reggini was exhausted but there were no serious options to bring on from the bench so I was struggling for an outlet.
The last five minutes were a frenzy of last ditch defending and hoofed clearances as the clock ticked down, mercifully without a proper chance for the Dutch to score. Finally on 95 minutes the full time whistle went to give San Marino a famous victory! We now topped the group with only three games remaining. Surely this had to be our year!
This was a heroic effort by the team to set up a chance to qualify. We could lose to Greece and still finish second as long as we beat Moldova and Malta!
In the next game, away against Greece, I decided to deploy the same formation as in the Holland game with only one change made as Pelliccioni returned from his one game suspension in order to bring some much needed experience to the midfield.
This game plan went down the pan after only 5 minutes as Bonafizi was forced off through injury (hopefully this wasn’t another major one) to force me into a 4-4-2 formation with A. Pelliccioni partnering Reggini up top.
This was far from ideal as Reggini was still very tired from his exploits against Holland and Pelliccioni was a poor strike partner. This lack of an effective outlet caused Greece to take total control of the game and they took advantage on 16 minutes. Working the ball around the edge of the Sammarinese box Triantafyllos gave Zanotti the slip to receive a pass in space and blast a shot in at the near post.
Whilst doing well to limit Greece’s chances we posed little threat of our own and the game contained few top quality moments. Greece eventually came through as 1-0 winners with San Marino registering just a solitary shot on target. Quite a come down from the previous game.
This defeat left us with a clear path to second place in the group, all we had to do was beat Moldova and Malta! Moldova were first and, despite having 62% possession they were beaten with relative ease 2-0 as our midfield was somewhere close to full strength again.
The final game in Valetta was huge as we were only 90 minutes away from a potential qualification spot. We could even top the group if Holland slipped up against Greece! We got off to the perfect start on 16 minutes as Reggini scored his 11th goal of the campaign while Greece and Holland were still 0-0. With 74 minutes remaining we topped the group.
This clearly distracted the team as they began to coast thinking their position was secure. It was anything but. After a poor kick from Gallo gave Farrugia a chance to shoot from the edge of the box. With the help of a big deflection his shot found the net and Malta were now level. Things got worse just before half time as Gallo again made a significant error when he totally misjudged a cross to allow Borg to head into an empty net. What previously looked like a cake walk had suddenly become nervy as Greece were still 0-0. Preparing to give my team an almighty rollicking at half time Reggini then decided to take matters into his own hands. He beat two defenders on the right wing before rolling the ball across into the path of Tamagnini who equalised with the last kick of the half to score his 78th international goal.
After a slightly reduced rollicking San Marino took charge of the game in the second half. Reggini completed a hat trick and Bonafizi scored his 3rd international goal to give us a 5-2 win. Sadly Greece lost to Holland so we finished runners up in the group! At this point I was anticipating a draw for the play offs and the nerve jangling two legged tie that came with it however, to my surprise I was informed that we had qualified for Euro 2030! WE. HAD. DONE. IT.
It turns out the top three ranked runners up automatically qualified with San Marino ranking second from these teams. At least this path to the tournament was a little less nerve wracking than the play offs but at this point I was too happy to care.
- January 2029 World Ranking – 51st
- December 2029 World Ranking – 30th
- Biggest Win – 5-1 v Malta
- Biggest Defeat – 3-4 v Holland
- Top Scorer – Massimo Reggini, 13 Goals
- Most Assists – Alessandr Francini, 6 Assists
- Highest Rated Player – Massimo Reggini, 8.26
- Most Caps – Filippo Berarid, 108 Caps
- Most Goals – Andrea Tamagnini, 78 Goals
After a fantastic campaign I had the whole of the 2029/30 season to play through before the world cup! Should have this uploaded next week!
Alex
StratMan Gaming 
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