enjikari

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
Kazakhstan Grab Deserved Win

31.3.07

Kazakhstan 2-1 San Marino (European Championship Qualifying Group 1)

Kazakhstan and San Marino battled hard in a game that could have gone either way, but Kazakhstan eventually grabbed a deserved 2-1 win.

Kazakhstan took the lead through Dmitry Zarechny (16) and despite Daniele Conti (28) levelling the score, the Kazakh's held on for the win with a goal from Valery Guseinov (55). In this closely fought encounter, a surprsingly lacklustre San Marino side were reduced to ten men late on when Fabio Bollini was dismissed for an off-the-ball scuffle.

San Marino fans may have left the Central Stadium in Almaty cursing the team's bad luck and bemoaning the lack of firepower upfront. They will now look to the game against Macedonia in four days time to try and get a result. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">|No. | Name | |Rat|Gls||No. | Name | |Rat|Gls||-----------------------------------------------||-----------------------------------------------|| 1 | Vladimir Vikhlyanov | | 5 | || 1 | Stefano Molinari | | 7 | || 2 | Oleg Loria | | 6 | || 2 | Fabio Bollini |(off 83)| 4 | || 3 | Dmitry Zarechny | | 8 | 1 || 3 | Alessandro Della Valle | | 7 | || 4 | Maxim Moskalenko | | 6 | || 4 | Stefano Toccacelli | | 6 | || 5 | Sergey Moskalenko | | 7 | || 5 | Michele Mancini | Booked | 7 | || 6 | Alexandr Kusainov |(sub 83)| 7 | || 6 | Alessandro Francioni | Booked | 7 | || 7 | Yury Zarechny (C) | | 7 | || 7 |* RAFFAELE MORONI (C) | | 8 | || 8 | Vladimir Pak | | 8 | || 8 | Mirco Zanotti | | 6 | || 9 | Valery Guseinov |(sub 79)| 7 | 1 || 9 | Nicola Chiaruzzi | Booked | 7 | ||10 | Alexandr Gorbunov |(sub 79)| 4 | ||10 | Daniele Conti | | 7 | 1 ||11 | Sergey Kim | | 7 | ||11 | Andy Selva | | 5 | ||-----------------------------------------------||-----------------------------------------------||12 | Alexandr Volkov | | | ||12 | Andrea Raschi | | | ||14 | Vyacheslav Baisakov | | | ||14 | Michele Giacobbi | | | ||15 | Valery Iskakov | | | ||15 | Simone Celli | | | ||16 | Eugeny Iskakov | (on 79)| 6 | ||16 | Elia Gerini | | | ||17 | Andrey Loria | | | ||17 | Nicola Giardi | | | ||18 | Maxim Shibalaev | (on 79)| 6 | ||18 | David Rapanelli | | | ||19 | Alexandr Finonchenko | (on 83)| 6 | ||19 | Davide Biordi | | | |</pre>

retired_embartl

oh dear Better luck against Macedonia

enjikari

Cheers Brian, I feel we will need it

-

FYR of Macedonia vs. San Marino - European Championships Qualifying Group 1
Gradski Stadion, Skopje

Kazakhstan - 5-3-2 Attacking
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> &lt;-----------D. Nacevski V. Hristovksi-----------&gt; G. Pandev ^ N. Micevski V. Trayanov ^ | | | | Subs: | | Z. Toleski | | I. JovanovskiD. Lazarevski D. Micevski D. Nikolov K. Milosevski G. Ristovski B. Jovanovski &lt;-------I. Mitrevski G. Sedloski B. Grnacov-------&gt; D. Janevski I. Kostovski</pre>

San Marino - 4-1-3-2
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> D. Conti A.Selva ^ ^ ^ | | | | | | | | | | | | Subs: N. Chiaruzzi R. Moroni M. Zanotti A. Raschi P. Cupi S. Celli M. Bollini M. Gasperoni A. Francioni D. Rapanelli D. BiordiA. Della Valle M.Mancini S.Toccacelli E. Gerini S. Molinari</pre>

enjikari

With three of our usual back four missing through either suspension or injury, confidence was not high going into our match away at Macedonia. When you also consider we are yet to pick up a point, it didn't make confidence or expectations much better.

We were still going to give it our best shot however, like I always felt we did, and we had the first chance of the match through Zanotti. Moroni used good skill to dribble to the byline and Zanotti met his cross, but Zanotti hit his shot straight at the Macedonia goalkeeper Igor Kostovski. Macedonia then looked to create a chance of their own but Mancini denied them with a fantastic intervention.

They were not to be denied next time round, however, and they took the lead after just ten minutes. Nikola Micevski played the ball to Dejan Lazarevski who, spotting two of his teammates in the area, chipped the ball into the box. Dragan Nacevski beat Gerini in the area and headed towards goal. The ball took the slightest of deflections and that was enough to send the ball past Molinari and into the back of the net.

We needed to either get straight back into the match or to try and keep the score down for a while, but Macedonia doubled their lead only six minutes later. Chiaruzzi tripped Trayanov to earn himself a yellow card and to give Macedonia a free kick. Vanco Hristovski took it and put it into the back of the net to leave us with a mountain to climb.

It was a mountain I felt that we could climb, as there was plenty of time left within the match, but when Macedonia scored a third after just the twenty-minute mark, it was beginning to look impossible. Pandev found Grnacov with a low pass right and Grnacov turned skilfully with the ball before angling it out left to Lazarevski. Lazarevski ran to the byline and put the ball into the six-yard box where Grnacov was waiting to finish a good team move.

Nacevski and Dejan Micevski came close to making things worse for us before half time but we ended the half better, and we scored a crucial goal that would give us confidence going into half time. Moroni played the ball to Conti and Conti got to it before Grnacov could cut it out. He dribbled past Sedloski on the edge of the area, ploughing forward in the rain, before hitting the ball low across the keeper for three-one.

We started the second half much better than we had started the first, and within five minutes of the restart we had forced Kostovski into good saves from Moroni and Mancini. Dejan Micevski came close to putting the game beyond us, if it wasn't already, for the home side before Francioni nearly brought us to within one goal with a superb long-range effort. Unfortunately, he couldn't find the back of the net, and Macedonia did get a fourth goal to finally end our hopes. Hristovski swung a free kick to Lazarevski who knocked the ball down. Dejan Micevski was there to meet it, guiding the ball home to make the score four goals to one.

Conti came close to getting his second of the game to get us a consolation goal, but he couldn't manage it and we crashed to another defeat. We now have no points after five games and our next two games are trips to Slovenia and Macedonia before our final three home games.

enjikari

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
Macedonia Ease To Victory

4.4.07

FYR of Macedonia 4-1 San Marino (European Championships Qualifying Group 1)

San Marino failed to cause an upset at the Gradski Stadion as Macedonia coasted to and expected four-one victory.

Goals from Dragan Nacevski (12), Vanco Hristovski (18) and Boban Grnacov (21) saw the home side take a commanding lead early on and, desptie Daniele Conti (43) pulling a goal back for the San Marinese, Macedonia wrapped up the win with a goal from Dejan Micevski (64).

Macedonia had much the better of the match and took all three points as both teams look to further their qualifying campaigns. San Marino have yet to record a point and will look to their trips to Slovenia and Belgium in two months time to do just that. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">|No. | Name | |Rat|Gls||No. | Name | |Rat|Gls||-----------------------------------------------||-----------------------------------------------|| 1 | Igor Kostovski | | 6 | || 1 | Stefano Molinari | | 7 | || 2 | Boban Grnacov | Booked | 8 | 1 || 2 | Elia Gerini | | 6 | || 3 | Goce Sedloski (C) | | 7 | || 3 | Alessandro Della Valle | | 6 | || 4 | Igor Mitreski | Booked | 7 | || 4 | Stefano Toccacelli | | 6 | || 5 |* DEJAN MICEVSKI | | 9 | 1 || 5 | Michele Mancini | Booked | 6 | || 6 | Dejan Lazarevski |(sub 80)| 8 | || 6 | Alessandro Francioni | | 7 | || 7 | Vancho Trayanov | | 8 | || 7 | Raffaele Moroni (C) | | 7 | || 8 | Goran Pandev |(sub 80)| 7 | || 8 | Mirco Zanotti | | 7 | || 9 | Nikola Micevski | | 7 | || 9 | Nicola Chiaruzzi (Bkd) |(sub 45)| 5 | ||10 | Vanco Hristovski |(sub 89)| 8 | 1 ||10 | Daniele Conti | | 7 | 1 ||11 | Dragan Nacevski | | 9 | 1 ||11 | Andy Selva | Booked | 3 | ||-----------------------------------------------||-----------------------------------------------||12 | Zoran Toleski | | | ||12 | Andrea Raschi | | | ||14 | Ilija Jovanovski | | | ||14 | Paolo Cupi | | | ||15 | Dejan Nikolov | (on 80)| 7 | ||15 | Simone Celli | | | ||16 | Kire Milosevski | (on 80)| 7 | ||16 | Michele Bollini | | | ||17 | Goran Ristovski | | | ||17 | Marco Gasperoni | | | ||18 | Blagoja Jovanovski | | | ||18 | David Rapanelli | (on 45)| 7 | ||19 | Dragan Janevski | (on 89)| 6 | ||19 | Davide Biordi | | | |</pre>

enjikari

Each team has now faced each other once and Slovenia, surprisingly, are the only team with a 100% record with five wins out of five. Spain and Belgium have only lost one game each and sit second and third respectively with Macedonia in fourth. Kazakhstan are in fifth thanks to their victory over us and that leaves us bottom of the group without a point.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Group 1 P W D L F A PTS-----------------------------------------------------------------Slovenia 5 5 0 0 8 2 15-----------------------------------------------------------------Spain 5 3 1 1 10 2 10Belgium 5 3 1 1 14 8 10FYR of Macedonia 5 2 0 3 7 8 6Kazakhstan 5 1 0 4 5 9 3SAN MARINO 5 0 0 5 5 20 0</pre>


<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Results so far: | Saturday 31st March 2007 | | Belguim 4-1 FYR of Macedonia | SAN MARINO QUALIFYING RESULTS Kazakhstan 2-1 SAN MARINO | Spain 0-1 Slovenia | San Marino 1-2 Slovenia | Spain 7-0 San Marino Wednesday 4th April 2007 | San Marino 2-5 Belgium | Kazakhstan 2-1 San Marino Slovenia 2-1 Belgium | FYR of Macedonia 4-1 San Marino FYR of Macedonia 4-1 SAN MARINO | Slovenia - San Marino Kazakhstan 0-1 Spain | Belgium - San Marino | San Marino - Kazakhstan Saturday 14th October 2006 | San Marino - Spain | San Marino - FYR of Macedonia FYR of Macedonia 0-1 Spain | Slovenia 2-0 Kazakhstan | SAN MARINO 2-5 Belgium |</pre>

enjikari

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
Squad Remains Unchanged For Upcoming Games

31.5.07

The San Marinese squad has yet again been kept unchanged ahead of their visits to both Slovenia and Belgium for two more Euro 2008 qualifiers.

They have three suspensions within the squad but two of those will be over after the Slovenia game. Central defenders Alex Gasperoni and Paolo Cupi have also returned from injury after missing the last two games.

With Slovenia currently yet to drop a point and Belgium being far stronger, San Marino are surely not expecting much from these two games.

The squad is listed in full below. Numbers show caps/goals <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">M. Bollini - GK - 0/0 N. Giardi - GK - 12/0 S. Molinari - GK - 6/0 M. Mancini - SW/D/DM C - 2/0 F. Bollini - D R - 15/0 E. Gerini - D RC - 3/0M. Giacobbi - D R - 2/0 S. Toccaceli - D RC - 4/0P. Cupi - D LC - 14/0 A. Della Valle - D LC - 19/0 A. Gasperoni - D LC - 12/0 A. Francioni - DM C - 16/0A. Raschi - DM C - 2/0 N. Chiaruzzi - M LC - 18/1R. Gasperoni - M L - 0/0 D. Rapanelli - M C - 4/0S. Celli - M C - 2/0 M. Gasperoni - M C - 0/0R. Moroni - AM RLC - 18/2 M. Zanotti - AMC - 16/1D. Biordi - F RC - 1/0 A. Selva - S C - 31/11D. Conti - F LC - 15/5 G. Muratori - S C - 2/0</pre>

enjikari

Slovenia vs. San Marino - European Championships Qualifying Group 1
Bezigrad, Ljubljana

Slovenia - 4-4-2 Attacking
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ^ D. Nacevski V. Hristovksi ^ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | N. Ceh R. Koren G. Sukalo D. Komljenovic Subs: Z. Toleski I. Jovanovski D. Nikolov K. Milosevski G. Ristovski B. JovanovskiA. Jesenicnik M. Acimovic A. Knavs D. Robnik D. Janevski T. Murko</pre>

San Marino - 4-1-3-2
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> D. Conti A.Selva ^ ^ ^ | | | | | | | | | | | | Subs: R. Gasperoni R. Moroni M. Zanotti D. Biordi N. Giardi E. Gerini M. Gasperoni A. Raschi A. Francioni G. Muratori M. GiacobbiA. Della Valle A. Gasperoni P. Cupi S. Toccacelli S. Molinari</pre>

enjikari

We had our regular central defensive partnership, Gasperoni and Cupi, back in the team as we travelled to Slovenia who are unbeaten after the five games so far. I felt we could get something out of the game but it would be hard and we would have to battle.

Slovenia forced four corners in the opening two minutes but couldn't manage to bring a save from Molinari thanks to good defensive blocks and last-ditch tackles. This good defence gave us confidence to attack and we managed to take a shock lead, like we had in the return fixture, with our first effort on goal. Zanotti played the ball to Francioni and Francioni played a long ball forward into the box. Andy Selva out-jumped Milenko Acimovic, bizarrely playing in defence, and guided his header towards goal and out of the reach of Murko for one-nil.

Roberto Gasperoni, making his debut despite being in the squad for years, then produced a good save from Murko as we looked to extend our lead but minutes later Slovenia were back on level terms. Cupi failed to clear a Robnik cross comprehensively and Cimirotic send the ball straight back into the box. Robert Koren brought the ball down well and finished just as skilfully to make it one-all.

Molinari saved from goal-scorer Koren straight from the kick-off after this goal, the home side clearly lifted by their equaliser. The lift they had been given meant they started to outplay us on the pitch and it didn't take us long to fall behind. Dejan Robnik played the ball to Cimirotic who got in behind the defence and round the keeper before slotting the ball into an empty net.

Robert Koren came close twice to making it three for the home side but we managed to hold on until half time. We came back out for the second half looking to get straight back in the game and Moroni almost managed to do this, sending in a rasping drive, but Murko managed to keep the shot out. Molinari was then forced to keep us in the game with a good save from Komljenovic and the game still looked like it could go either way.

Conti and Robnik came close to scoring for their respective teams before Slovenia did manage to increase their lead. Acimovic played a lovely ball down the line for Cimirotic and he got to the byline before he centred the ball. Robnik out-jumped Roberto Gasperoni to get a header in at goal and he saw it take a slight deflection off Francioni before finding its way into the back of the net.

There was still time left for us to salvage something from the game but, when Robnik and Nastja Ceh produced saves from Molinari, it looked like the only goals that would be scored would be from the Slovenians. Kovacic then also came close before we pulled a goal back with just four minutes left.

Toccacelli sent the ball forward looking for, and finding, Raffaele Moroni. Moroni brought the ball down and took it into the area, finding himself with only the keeper to beat. He had a great opportunity and he took it well to make it three-two with time left to find an equaliser. We couldn't find our, however, and Slovenia kept up their 100% record whilst we suffered our sixth defeat.

enjikari

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
Slovenia Made To Fight

9.6.07

Slovenia 3-2 San Marino (European Championships Qualifying Group 1)

San Marino ran unbeaten Slovenia close, but in the end Slovenia had done enough to clinch the game by three goals to two.

San Marino took the lead like they had done in the reverse fixture through Andy Selva (16) but goals from Robert Koren (29), Sebastjan Cimirotic (38) and Dejan Robnik (69) saw Slovenia take a commanding lead. A late goal from Raffaele Moroni (87) meant the Slovenians had a nervy ending but they managed to hold on.

San Marino face Belgium next with their main aim surely to try and get a respectable score. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">|No. | Name | |Rat|Gls||No. | Name | |Rat|Gls||-----------------------------------------------||-----------------------------------------------|| 1 | Tomaz Murko | | 5 | || 1 | Stefano Molinari | | 6 | || 2 |* DEJAN ROBNIK | | 9 | 1 || 2 | Stefano Toccacelli | | 6 | || 3 | Ales Jesenicnik | | 8 | || 3 | Alessandro Della Valle | | 5 | || 4 | Aleksander Knavs | | 7 | || 4 | Paolo Cupi | | 6 | || 5 | Milenko Acimovic |(sub 79)| 6 | || 5 | Alex Gasperoni | Booked | 6 | || 6 | Dejan Komljenovic |(sub 79)| 7 | || 6 | Alessandro Francioni | | 7 | || 7 | Nastja Ceh | | 7 | || 7 | Mirco Zanotti | Booked | 6 | || 8 | Goran Sukalo (C) | | 7 | || 8 | Raffaele Moroni (C) | Booked | 8 | 1 || 9 | Robert Koren | | 8 | 1 || 9 | Roberto Gasperoni | | 7 | ||10 | Borut Semler | | 8 | ||10 | Daniele Conti | Booked | 7 | ||11 | Sebastjan Cimirotic |(sub 69)| 9 | 1 ||11 | Andy Selva | Booked | 8 | 1 ||-----------------------------------------------||-----------------------------------------------||12 | Samir Handanovic | | | ||12 | Davide Biordi | | | ||14 | Matjaz Sankovic | (on 69)| 6 | ||14 | Nicola Giardi | | | ||15 | Peter Gomboc | (on 79)| 6 | ||15 | Elia Gerini | | | ||16 | Franc Kovacic | (on 79)| 7 | ||16 | Marco Gasperoni | | | ||17 | Andrej Papotnik | | | ||17 | Andrea Raschi | | | ||18 | Bojan Zajc | | | ||18 | Gabriele Muratori | | | ||19 | Branko Tomazic | | | ||19 | Michele Giacobbi | | | |</pre>