*Thanks Kyle, although I have know idea what you mean. Updates are as regular as ever. :p
*SORRY 
*
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After disappointment of an opening defeat in a game we thought we could get something from, we now had to play in Spain. Honestly, my only hope was that we kept the score to a respectable level. I decided not to make any changes to the team as I felt we had our best eleven on the pitch, bar Alex Gasperoni who isn't in the squad due to suspension.
I wanted a good start, as always, but we managed to get off to a fantastically poor start, just what we didn't need. Raúl missed two good opportunities to put the hosts ahead inside the first couple of minutes, but it didn't take long for
Diego Tristán to give Spain the lead. Victor played a ball in to Raúl but Molinari got a fist on it to punch it clear. His punch, however, went straight to Tristán who put away a simple finish for his tenth goal for his country.
Three minutes and one attempt at goal later, Spain were two goals to the good, and we were out of it within the first ten minutes. It was
Raúl who started and finished the move that brought the goal, playing the ball to Albelda before running onto the return ball to smash home from a narrow angle.
Tristán and Capi both missed guilt-edged opportunities to further the Spanish lead before we had our first shot of the game. Conti ran past Marchena and had a shot that Cañizares did well to parry. Conti got to the rebound and headed towards goal but, again, Cañizares did brilliantly to turn the ball away. Moroni then had another attempt at the Spanish goal that Cañizares turned away, but any thoughts of us getting back into the game were wiped away as Spain hit us on the counter attack and scored a third. Tristán spurned an easy opportunity with a dismal effort that should have gone in, but he managed to get a corner from it. JoaquÃ*n took it and
Fernando Navarro rose above Toccaceli to head the ball into the back of the net.
It was to get worse for us before half time. We couldn't get any sort of possession and we had to try and defend wave after wave of attacks from the now-rampant Spanish. We didn't hold out for long, however, and
Diego Tristán got his second of the game to give Spain a four-nil lead at half-time. He took the ball round Molinari in goal, but Molinari recovered to prod the ball away. Tristán got the ball back and was left with an unguarded net to roll the ball into.
The second half continued in much the same vain as the first and inside the first five minutes Raúl, twice, Victor and Albelda all missed chances to further extend the lead. We tried to hit Spain on the counter through Bollini and Chiaruzzi, but we lost the ball and got punished by
Diego Tristán completing his hat-trick. Chiaruzzi lost the ball to Capi who played the ball down the left for Raúl to latch onto. He did just that before swinging in a cross that Tristán met with a powerful header into the back of the net.
Plenty of time was left within the game, and within two minutes,
Tristán had notched his fourth of the game. Exteberria rose bravely above Toccacelli to win the ball from Raúl's curling cross only to see his header saved well by the fingertips of Molinari. Again, it was Tristán who reacted first and the ball was quickly dispatched into the back of the net.
Spain had now scored six, which meant this game was my joint-worst result in charge of the San Marinese national team. With still twenty-five minutes to go, it was almost certain to get become the worst. And it was no surprise when
Diego Tristán hit his fifth and Spain's seventh. The goal went the way a couple of his other's had when, after Molinari had done well to keep out Michel Salgado, he put away the rebound before Molinari could recover.
With this goal came the end of the attacking from Spain, but they still did enough to stop us from launching any attempt to at least register on the score-sheet. The ended seven goals to nil in the favour of the home side, and we had failed to take any points from our opening two games.
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