San Marino failed to end their 20-year wait for a win despite taking the lead in a friendly fixture.
Ranked the worst international team in FIFA’s rankings, the minnows had lost a staggering 192 of their 201 games before facing Saint Kitts and Nevis. And the microstate, which is landlocked in north-eastern Italy, missed a golden opportunity to win its first match since 2004 on Wednesday.
They took the lead against Saint Kitts, ranked 63 places above them, 21 minutes into the match after Filippo Berardi was fouled inside the box. Berardi tucked his penalty away into the top left hand corner to spark wild scenes in front of the home fans.
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Cheering in the stands were San Marino’s ultras - aptly named the ‘Never Any Joy Brigade’ as a nod to their lacklustre showings. The ultras had a few new additions among them and were filmed making themselves heard after making the breakthrough.
But their optimism was ended by Tyquan Terrell levelling the score just ten minutes later. Things got worse when Andre Burley netted the visitors’ second on the stroke of half time, before Harry Panayiotou scored his side’s third in the 49th minute.
The 3-1 defeat extended La Serenissima’s winless streak to 137 games since they beat Liechtenstein 1-0 to mark their first ever international win. Liechtenstein and Anguilla could both breathe a sigh of relief knowing that their record of 35 games without a win would not become the new holder.
Yet some history was made by the despondent San Marino team, who hail from the fifth-smallest country in the world with a population of just 33,000. Their converted penalty meant they were able to find the net in four consecutive games for the first time ever.
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One of those came against Denmark, who until recently were ranked inside the top 20 nations in the world. And San Marino will have another crack at a long-awaited victory when they face Saint Kitts again on Sunday as part of the double header.
San Marino captain Matteo Vitaioli said before the first fixture: “It would mean to be part of the history of my home country's national team, so it is the ultimate objective. It represents an opportunity to leave a sign, something that cannot be lost. It would be something that in 2050 and beyond would be remembered because there have been so few victories."
