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JavaJawaUK (talk | contribs) changed "tiny nation" to "microstate" for correct term and no possible offence to any sammarisans reading [for whatever reason] |
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The [[San Marino national football team|San Marino national team]] played its first unofficial international match in [[1986]], in which it suffered a 0-1 defeat to the Canadian [[Olympic Games|Olympic]] team. Its first competitive outing was on [[November 14]], [[1990]], a 0-4 loss against [[Switzerland national football team|Switzerland]] in the [[European Football Championship|European Championship]] qualifier. These defeats set the tone for most of the following outings of the team, who are regarded as whipping boys in the qualifying sections of the European Championship and the [[Football World Cup|World Cup]].
They had a brief moment of glory when they faced [[England national football team|England]] in a World Cup qualifier on [[November 17]], [[1993]] and took the lead through [[David Gualtieri]] after just 8.3 seconds - still the fastest goal in World Cup competition [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3952361]. Despite this goal, only San Marino's third at international level, the
Until recently, San Marino's international record was one of almost total failure, with famous draws against [[Latvia national football team|Latvia]] and [[Liechtenstein national football team|Liechtenstein]] being the only partial successes in an international career that contains over 70 defeats. However, on the [[29 April]] [[2004]], San Marino recorded their first ever win, with a 1-0 victory over Liechtenstein in an international friendly. [[Andy Selva]] scored the only goal in a close game that finally gave this tiny republic a footballing victory.
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