YES! We finally did it! After being in charge for 131 games over 14 years we finally reached our first major tournament. There was still a long way to go on this journey (assuming i didn’t get sacked) but this was a huge first step to take so I thought I’d cover the tournament in depth.
With San Marino having a world ranking of 27th at the time of the draw we were seeded in the second pot of teams for the World Cup giving us a healthy chance to get a favourable group.
San Marino were drawn into Group A with world cup hosts Spain along with Morocco and Iran. Realistically I couldn’t hope to overcome Spain at home but Morocco and Iran were both very beatable, second place in the group was a distinct possibility! With a group of death consisting of France, Uruguay, Belgium and Mexico the draw certainly could have been much, much worse for us.
The Squad
As the World Cup approached I was thankful for there being no major injuries in my squad as strength in depth was still a major issue in many areas. I also hoped that the lure of a major tournament could convince players such as Chiappini to finally play for the national team to further boost my firepower.
In my final squad for the tournament there were two minor injuries to Gallo and Francini but these would clear up easily in time for the opening match. The clear strength of this squad was in attack and the centre of midfield and I would be relying on these players to do the damage for San Marino, there is also a lot of experience in the squad with 6 players being above or close to 100 caps (note this screenshot was taken some time after we played the world cup).
Daniele Berti would be playing a major role in defence with his high potential I just hoped throwing him in at the deep end wasn’t a step too far after only three games for his country. Also important to note is that Cevoli and Bonifazi have improved significantly since the world cup hence why they only play minor roles this tournament.
Group Stage: San Marino v Morocco
The opening game of the world cup was against Morocco who were ranked in 47th. This game had to be won if we wanted to make it out of the group. Lining up in our usual counter attacking 4-4-2 formation with a lot of pace I named my starting eleven for this historic first ever game at a major tournament.
It was a highly experienced unit of players with Berti and Bonifazi being the least capped players. Reggini and Tamagnini would be key to our success as they were currently the only two players in the squad with over 20 goals.
San Marino started the game quickly using overwhelming pace to get in behind Morocco right from the off. After only eight minutes young creative midfielder Bonifazi played a great ball to Francini (now making his 112th appearance) on the right wing. He whipped in a great ball which Tamagnini headed into the net to score his 80th goal for San Marino. Andy Selva’s goal scoring record was a distant memory now as we enjoyed a dream start to the world cup.
With an early goal under their belts San Marino didn’t relent and continued to take the game to Morocco. This paid off again on eleven minutes as Reggini drilled a near post cross into the box from the right wing which Tamagnini once again headed into the net. Morocco were struggling to live with San Marino and looked shell shocked.
With Morocco needing to find a way back into the game and San Marino relying on having far better attackers than defenders to win, the game continued at a high pace. The talent of our attackers paid dividend yet again as Andreini found some space on the left wing to fire in a top quality cross where that man Tamagnini slid in on the back post to complete his hat trick. San Marino were only 16 minutes into their world cup debut but they had a world cup record to their name. Tamagnini had the quickest world cup hat trick to break Erich Probst’s record which had stood since 1954.
Ten minutes later Reggini scored a screamer from the edge of the box to put the game to bed only 26 minutes into the game. I literally couldn’t have dreamed to start the tournament this well! After this point the game really slowed down and there were very few incidents of note until the 91st minute. Morocco pushed on looking for a goal to take away from this game and they whipped a low cross into the box. Late substitute Mariotti was unfortunate to turn the ball into his own net and give Morocco a late consolation.
Every player performed to the best of their ability in this game with both strikers understandably coming out top of the ratings. Their clinical finishing gave us a huge edge in a game that was very even in terms of shots and other stats.
The only problems to emerge from this initial game was a booking for Francini in the first half and Bonifazi looking jaded by the time he was replaced by Mariotti.
San Marino sat top of the group on goal difference going into the next game but we would need to carry all the momentum we could into the game against world cup hosts Spain.
Group Stage: San Marino v Spain
After such a good performance in the previous game i elected to only make one change for the game against Spain. Despite being a huge creative input I rested Bonifazi and replaced him with Mariotti.
For the second game in a row San Marino found themselves in a fast paced game which involved an early goal. Spain broke from a Sammarinese corner which saw them with a 3 on 2 when Soler took a shot from the edge of the box. Gallo could only parry to Aizpurua who calmly passed this golden opportunity into the net.
Spain, spurred on by a huge home crowd, continued to dominate the game after this goal. Winning a free kick out wide Soler again caused our fragile defence major problems as his cross managed to go all the way to the back post for Diaz to nod into the net unmarked.
The San Marino defence was rocking and totally unable to cope with the sheer talent in Spain’s midfield and they extended their lead yet again on 26 minutes. From a Spanish corner Berti headed the ball clear to an unmarked Ormaetxea who hammered another goal into the net from 20 yards.
Fearing a whitewash I switched my team to play defensively rather than on the counter to try and minimise the damage to our goal difference. This change settled San Marino a little as it prevented the defence from being overwhelmed every time Spain came forward at pace. The game was flat for a long period until well into the second half.
With the game all but gone I decided to make three changes on 65 minutes which included taking experienced winger Francini off in order to avoid him picking up another booking and getting banned for the final group game.
These changes did little to liven up the game until the 72nd minute as Reggini, through sheer hard work, made enough space to curl in a cross from the right which Pascual sliced into his own net under pressure from Tamagnini. It was our first major attack since the corner we won in the 7th minute (that lead to Spain’s first goal) and we nicked a consolation from it.
Sadly this was the only positive we got from the game as Spain continued to be in control. The final goal of the game came as Lopez cut in from the left and his powerful shot took a huge deflection to find its way past Gallo in the net.
This heavy defeat wasn’t surprising but it sure was hard to take. The only shot on target came only 7 minutes into the game and won San Marino a corner….which Spain scored from. No one really stood out as having a good game as San Marino really struggled to create much going forward. Berti was the weak link in defence only picking up a 5.4 rating.
Group Stage: San Marino v Iran
Going into the final grouo game the situation for San Marino to qualify was this; win and they were through no matter what, If they drew against Iran then they were relying on Spain beating Morocco while a defeat would knock them out. With Bonifazi still struggling for fitness I decided to name an unchanged line up for the crunch game hoping that the team could put the last game out of their mind to get the win we needed.
For the first time this world cup the game began in a cagey fashion with no real chances in the opening 15 minutes. Then, As Iran tried to build in midfield, Mariotti deflected a pass into the path of Pelliccioni who fed the ball into Reggini. He found Tamagnini in space on the left who then whipped a ball into the box for Reggini who took a touch before blasting the ball into the net. San Marino had the early goal that they needed!
This gave San Marino confidence and slowly they took control of the game with Reggini and Tamagnini once again being pivotal. A rare spell of control for Iran proved to be crucial in the game when Francini won the ball in the right back position. He played a long through ball up the wing to Reggini who beat his man and hit a shot from a narrow angle on goal which the Iranian goalie could only parry into his own net! Suddenly San Marino had the runners up spot in their hands!
This two goal lead changed the pattern of the game as Iran had to now score three goals in order to qualify. They pressed froward in a controlled manner as San Marino could only mount attacks by playing direct passes from defence to attack relying on Tamagnini and Reggini to be outlets on the wing. This was in contrast to Iran who built slowly to put crosses into the box. Fortunately Gallo was playing in a commanding fashion punching and catching cross after cross to keep Iran’s strikers at arms length.
This pattern remained for the rest of the match with Iran taking control of a lot more ball but not converting this into shots on goal. Reggini in particular thrived as a counter attacking outlet and his two goals won San Marino the match while Gallo performed well to keep his first clean sheet this world cup.
For the third game in a row San Marino had less possession and committed more fouls but this didn’t matter as they finished second in the group just a single point behind Spain who drew against Morocco in their final game. This was an amazing debut in the world cup for a nation with a population of only 33k people!
Round of 16: San Marino v Switzerland
San Marino’s reward for finishing runner up in the group was a round of 16 game against Group B winners Switzerland. Although they are higher ranked than San Marino this was a winnable game and realistically there weren’t many teams left in the competition that we could hope to beat.
I made just one change to the line up from the last game with Luca Zanotti replacing a tired Berti in the centre of defence and Mariotti keeping his place in midfield. Tactically I left things alone as counter attacking pace was the only way we could succeed against better ball playing teams.
San Marino came out of the changing rooms on the front foot and caught Switzerland out. Utilising long balls to the usual strikers they had a couple of half chances early on before Reggini made one count on 10 minutes. Casadei took a quick throw in to Andreini who fired a cross into the box. This found Reggini in some space who hit a firm shot on the turn into the net to send the San Marino fans into wild celebrations.
The game continued at a fast pace with neither side having any clear cut chances in the first half as the game flowed from one end to the other. The only incident of note in this phase of the game was a minor injury to Reggini. This seriously hampered his ability to act as a counter attacking outlet but, due to his passing and finishing ability I decided to leave him on the pitch.
This lessened threat from San Marino put Switzerland on top in the second half but they just couldn’t find a goal. As San Marino had the final whistle in sight Switzerland finally made their domination pay as they equalised on 80 minutes. Francini couldn’t get the ball clear from a corner and Pagot managed to fire the ball into the net from 10 yards to break Sammarinese hearts.
With the game heading into extra time Switzerland were clear favourites as they were fresher and not carrying an injured striker up front. This proved to be crucial in extra time as Tasin picked the ball up on the right wing, cut along the edge of the box before firing a shot into the top corner without facing a real challenge.
In an effort to try and cause Switzerland some problems in the second half of extra time I finally took the exhausted Reggini off for youngster Fantini as well as throwing Bonifazi on to give San Marino three strikers and going route one with their passing.
Despite having three strikers San Marino missed Reggini during this phase of play. They lacked the talent and pace up front needed against a tired but organised defence. Despite pinning Switzerland back for the last five minutes they never truly threatened as they lost 2-1.
San Marino performed well on their debut in the competition reaching the knockout rounds and scoring in every game with Reggini making the dream team bench thanks to his four goals in four games.
This tournament represented something of a changing of the guard for the San Marino national team. Despite only being 28 Francini suddenly decided to retire without warning leaving me with a hole on the right of midfield. This is a position that had been one of the strongest in the team since Francini came through way back in 2018 and I now needed a replacement from somewhere as Berardi was now 35 and barely made an impact any more.
In the rest of the tournament there were some major shocks as Wales managed to reach the semi finals (after hammering England) before being narrowly beaten by Italy. France won the world cup for a third time in a row having not lost a world cup match since way back in 2018 where they were beaten in the first knockout round by Brazil, truly this must go down as one of the best teams of all time.
StratMan Gaming 
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