San Marino's current record..

[Sam 45]

Their European qualification record is as follows:

Played - 36

Lost 36

Goals For - 4

Goals Against - 163

Makes Scotland look like Brazil

[Diesel]

Consistent!

[delboy]

i believe one of those goals was against england when graham taylor failed to qualify for the 1994 finals!

[Shaki]

I appreciate the reasoning behind that but also love the occasional upsets that these smaller nations can cause (although San Marino clearly don't fit into that!). They do play their part in the group.

I'm not a fan of this new "head to head" ruling over goal difference when teams are level on points. Football is about goals and the teams who rack up the most points and score the most goals in qualifying should go through. Keeps us above France at the moment mind you! Anyone agree with me?

[delboy]

I appreciate the reasoning behind that but also love the occasional upsets that these smaller nations can cause (although San Marino clearly don't fit into that!). They do play their part in the group.

I'm not a fan of this new "head to head" ruling over goal difference when teams are level on points. Football is about goals and the teams who rack up the most points and score the most goals in qualifying should go through. Keeps us above France at the moment mind you! Anyone agree with me?

yes! i don't know why fifa have to confuse things with this head to head nonsense!

they have pre qualifying games in the champions league/UEFA cup so i don't see why this theory can't be adapted to the euro championship/world cup qualifiers. who knows san marino might actually get to win a game!

[Sam 45]

Oh 3-0 down. Make that 166 against.

[delboy]

Oh 3-0 down. Make that 166 against.

just watched the first half and by jove its no wonder san marino have such a poor record! germany stuck 13 past em recently!

[soundian]

yes! i don't know why fifa have to confuse things with this head to head nonsense!

they have pre qualifying games in the champions league/UEFA cup so i don't see why this theory can't be adapted to the euro championship/world cup qualifiers. who knows san marino might actually get to win a game!

I like the head to head thing, although they do state that it only comes into force in the final standings as a way of separating teams on equal points (I bet you they know that when printing the tables in France). I like the way that even if you stick 13 past a numpty team, you still have to score more than your equals in head to heads to qualify before them. It just seems fairer to me, and also sport is about peaking at the right time, no point being great against San Marino if your going to let England cuff you at home.

And as for pre-qualifying, where do you draw the line? Population size? FIFA rankings? I understand the point made about such small countries as San Marino et al never managing to progress because they're limited in population, but if you start imposing limits, where do you stop? Also, why make the smaller, physically less fit players that have honest full time jobs (as opposed to the overpaid, paid to be fit, prima donnas in the big leagues) play even more matches just to qualify for the chance to qualify?

[delboy]

I like the head to head thing, although they do state that it only comes into force in the final standings as a way of separating teams on equal points (I bet you they know that when printing the tables in France). I like the way that even if you stick 13 past a numpty team, you still have to score more than your equals in head to heads to qualify before them. It just seems fairer to me, and also sport is about peaking at the right time, no point being great against San Marino if your going to let England cuff you at home.

And as for pre-qualifying, where do you draw the line? Population size? FIFA rankings? I understand the point made about such small countries as San Marino et al never managing to progress because they're limited in population, but if you start imposing limits, where do you stop? Also, why make the smaller, physically less fit players that have honest full time jobs (as opposed to the overpaid, paid to be fit, prima donnas in the big leagues) play even more matches just to qualify for the chance to qualify?

that is a fair point but since when has footy been fair? the champions league should be renamed 'the champions, 2nd, 3rd and even 4th placed league (depending which moneybags league your team plays in'

[Scorge]

i believe one of those goals was against england when graham taylor failed to qualify for the 1994 finals!

Aye, scored after just 13 seconds! San Marino actually held onto the lead for about 25 minutes, before the inevitable caving in of the roof. Ian Wright scored most of his international goals that night too, IIRC.....

[delboy]

Aye, scored after just 13 seconds! San Marino actually held onto the lead for about 25 minutes, before the inevitable caving in of the roof. Ian Wright scored most of his international goals that night too, IIRC.....

you know what i didnt watch the game or know the score and settled down to watch the highlights. i actually thought england had scored first and were playing in their blue away strip! oops!

[Guest inc18457]

There really is a case for introducing a pr-qualifying round for countries like SM, Andorra, Luxembourg, Lichtenstein and so on. With all the new countries formed by the break-up of the Soviet Union and its satellite states, the current qualifying schedule is far too congested.

A pre-qualifier could take place during or just after the world cup, as none of these countries have any chance of qualifying for a major tournament proper anyway. I know there's an argument that says that Greece, Turkey and other developing states would have been held back by such a scheme if it had been introduced twenty years ago, but surely common sense dictates that countries of that size and population at least have the possibility of improving their national team, whereas Andorra or San Marino are never going to have the human resources to develop a successful and competitve national league that can feed the national team.

would scotland be exempt from the pre-qualifying? hardly world beating superpower side are we? and with only a million and a half more population than the likes of lithuania and hardly a super-competitive league...i think it would be fair, no?

[delboy]

would scotland be exempt from the pre-qualifying? hardly world beating superpower side are we? and with only a million and a half more population than the likes of lithuania and hardly a super-competitive league...i think it would be fair, no?

yeah but when you add up the figure of exiled scots and chaps who have scottish blood in them and are eligable to play for the national side, it would a significantly higher figure i feel.

[Chris]

would scotland be exempt from the pre-qualifying? hardly world beating superpower side are we?

Considering we're currently ranked 25th in the world, above the likes of Poland, USA, Ireland, Australia and Norway I'm sure we would get an exemption. Perhaps if Herr Vogts was still in charge we'd be screwed though.

[Cloud]

There really is a case for introducing a pr-qualifying round for countries like SM, Andorra, Luxembourg, Lichtenstein and so on. With all the new countries formed by the break-up of the Soviet Union and its satellite states, the current qualifying schedule is far too congested.

A pre-qualifier could take place during or just after the world cup, as none of these countries have any chance of qualifying for a major tournament proper anyway. I know there's an argument that says that Greece, Turkey and other developing states would have been held back by such a scheme if it had been introduced twenty years ago, but surely common sense dictates that countries of that size and population at least have the possibility of improving their national team, whereas Andorra or San Marino are never going to have the human resources to develop a successful and competitve national league that can feed the national team.

No, No, No, No...I don't like the idea of pre qualifying at all. I think there's a certain element that says that you should have to be consistently good to qualify - look at Scotland's group, a slip up against Georgia/Faroe Islands would be incredibly hard to recover from. That, if nothing else, gives the smaller teams something to play for. I don't think the trip to Georgia will be easy for us, France or Italy either - so there's a lot to play for in those games. I wouldn't bet against the Faroes taking a point from one of France/Italy/Ukraine/Scotland, and dropping 2 points against them could be the end for any of those four teams. That, to me, is a sound enough reason to keep them in the competition.

Also, if the small teams get removed from the main qualifying, what hope is there for the smaller European quasi-nations then? Gibraltar, Aland Islands, Northern Cyprus, Monaco, Jersey and Guernsey could all have a credible claim for entering a team into the World Cup and European Championships, too. Another six teams would mean 6 equal groups of 8 teams - and surely the spirit of Europe should be that everyone gets a chance regardless of size?

Looking at the current tables, Malta are above Hungary and Moldova. Iceland are equal with Spain and Latvia. I'd also guess that the money gained from the "big" matches will help the smaller federations to grow and develop.

In an era of seeding destroying a lot of the fun of competitions, it's nice to see that the small teams at least get their chance of glory - and who's to say that the Faroes don't have a chance of springing an upset on a team?

[Shaki]

No, No, No, No...I don't like the idea of pre qualifying at all. I think there's a certain element that says that you should have to be consistently good to qualify - look at Scotland's group, a slip up against Georgia/Faroe Islands would be incredibly hard to recover from. That, if nothing else, gives the smaller teams something to play for. I don't think the trip to Georgia will be easy for us, France or Italy either - so there's a lot to play for in those games. I wouldn't bet against the Faroes taking a point from one of France/Italy/Ukraine/Scotland, and dropping 2 points against them could be the end for any of those four teams. That, to me, is a sound enough reason to keep them in the competition.

I concur