enjikari

Cheers Wag, Terk, binny and d_s. I thought it was around seven seconds as well, so I checked and theFIFA website says it was nine seconds. I reckon we should just say eight seconds. A few seconds doesn't make it any less embarrasing

enjikari

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
San Marino Squad Announced

2.9.04

San Marino have announced a twenty-four-man squad for the World Cup qualifying games away at both Norway and Macedonia.

With the first match against Norway just over a week away, they have selected the players they feel will give San Marino the best chance of progressing through Group 3 of the qualifying campaign for Germany 2006. It is, however, a relatively inexperienced group of players. Indeed, just six of the twenty-four players have represented their country before, and only two of those have more than one appearance in the blue of San Marino.

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

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">M. Bollini - GK - 0/0 F. Gasperoni - GK - 24/0N. Giardi - GK - 0/0 M. Mancini - SW/D/DM C - 0/0 F. Bollini - D R - 0/0 R. Gasperoni - D RC - 0/0E. Gerini - D RC - 0/0 M. Giacobbi - D R - 1/0P. Cupi - D LC - 0/0 A. Della Valle - D LC - 1/0A. Gasperoni - D LC - 0/0 D. Selva - D C - 0/0A. Francioni - DM C - 0/0 A. Raschi - DM C - 0/0N. Chiaruzzi - M LC - 0/0 R. Gasperoni - M L - 0/0D. Rapanelli - M/FL - 0/0 M. Gasperoni - M C - 0/0R. Moroni - AM RLC - 0/0 M. Mariotti - AM LC - 0/0M. Zanotti - AMC - 1/0 G. Gatti - F LC - 0/0A. Selva - F LC - 16/3 M. Marani - S C - 0/0</pre>

retired_marcias

Good luck :thup:

enjikari

Julian Aliaj - M C - 1 U-21 cap - Moved from U-21 squad to replace the injured Marco Gasperoni

Norway vs. San Marino - World Cup Qualifying European Section Group 3
Ullevál Stadion, Oslo

Norway - 4-5-1
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> J. Carew ^ ^ ^ | | | | | | | | | Subs: | | | P. KristiansenJ. Riise M.Andresen D. Berg Hosted E. Bakke O. Solskjær T. Øren A. Karadas M. Hoesth B. Hangeland T. Helstad T. FloA. Bergdølmo R. Johnsen A. Muri V. Riseth E. Johnsen</pre>
San Marino - 4-1-3-2
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> A.Selva M.Marani ^ ^ ^ | | | | | | | | | | | | Subs: N. Chiaruzzi R. Moroni M. Zanotti G. Gatti M. Mariotti A. Raschi D. Selva E. Gerini A. Francioni M. Bollini M. ManciniA. Della Valle P. Cupi A. Gasperoni F.Bollini N.Giardi</pre>

enjikari

It was us who kicked off to get the game and the qualifying campaign started. The opening couple of minutes saw a cautious start from us, understandable, considering it was blatantly obvious that Norway wanted goals they way they had started. An early mix up between the central defensive pairing of Cupi and Alex Gasperoni nearly saw Andresen steal in to score, but his shot was high and wide. Our first couple of forays forward towards the Norwegian goal ended before we managed to get a shot in. However, there were promising signs, as only last-ditch tackles from both Johnsen and Riseth stopped Manuel Marani from testing the Norwegian keeper.

Unfortunately, we took a big blow just after ten minutes of play when Riise put the home side ahead, to the delight 25000+ crowd, many of whom had turned up to see goals. Our defending had been cagey, but we had managed to keep the Norwegians at bay by hacking the ball anywhere we could. Gasperoni put the ball out for a corner that Andresen took, swinging the ball away from goal. Our defence was caught ball-watching and Riise executed a well-struck volley that fired into the roof of the net.

We took another big blow immediately as our main goal-scoring threat, Andy Selva, took a knock and was forced off through injury. After just thirteen minutes, we had fallen a goal behind and lost one of our best players. Not the start I had had in mind. Norway carried on putting our team under immense pressure by forcing a succession of corners, but the defence had learned from the mistakes of Riise's goal, and we held out through no less than five straight corners. There was a brief respite as well, as we made a rare break into our opponents half, but a good move resulted in a poor shot by Selva's replacement, Gatti, which went well wide.

It wasn't long before we were made to pay for not taking our chances when Bergdølmo put his side two goals ahead. Riise had the ball out on the left wing, and he drew Bollini towards him before sliding the ball down the wing for Solksjær. Solksjær had plenty of time to pick out a good cross before he swung the ball towards Bergdølmo at the far post. Paolo Cupi tried to win the ball in the air but Bergdølmo jumped the highest and got his first international goal with a well-taken header.

We now had a mountain to climb and we were doing ourselves no favours, losing the ball by giving it away, not stringing any sort of passing move together. Riise and Carew both came close to adding to the two goals already scored by Norway before half-time, but we defended the last ten minutes resolutely and made sure the score remained two goals to nil at half-time.

Neither team made any substitutions at half time, us having already been forced to make one early on, but Norway still picked up where they left the first half, producing attack after attack to put us under pressure. We had defended well to keep the score down to two before half time, but within the first five minutes of the second half, we were three down. Nicola Chiaruzzi brought down Bergdølmo around twenty-five yards out and the resultant free-kick was promptly dispatched into the top corner of the net by John Arne Riise, his second and Norway's third of the game.

We then started to come into the game a little bit, whether this was down to Norway slowing down a little I don't know, but we started to create a couple of chances of our own. Zanotti hit a shot over the bar and Marani brought out a brilliant save from Espen Johnsen in the Norwegian goal, and it appeared as though we were having slightly better of the play. This seemed to rile and frustrate our hosts however, and they wasted no time in streaking up the pitch to score a fourth. Right-back Fabio Bollini seemed to have cut out an attack down the left flank, but a quickly taken throw meant Riise had the time and space he needed to supply a telling pass. Riise fed Hoseth who elegantly brought the ball under his control before squaring the ball to Solksjær, who was left with a simple finish, which he easily took.

The fourth goal brought frustration into our team and we started to produce late, unnecessary challenges which we causing us problems of our own making. Alessandro Francioni started to foul a little to often for referee Lars Gerner's liking and he was shown the first and only yellow card of the game with just six minutes left. One of the free-kick given away through frustration led to the fifth and final goal of the game, a fitting end to the game for our hosts, but not really for us. Substitute Paulsen Hangeland got the ball from fellow substitute Tommy Øren after a quick free kick and he wasted no time in smashing the ball home from around twenty five yards, similar to Riise's free kick.

The final whistle was blown just moments later, and despite having played well for some periods of the game we ended up on the wrong end of the five-nil score-line, a disappointing start to our qualifying campaign. I had just four days to lift the players for our game in Macedonia.

enjikari

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
San Marino Spring No Surprises

11.9.04

Norway 5-0 San Marino (World Cup Quals (EUR) Grp 3)

San Marino's first game of the qualifying campaign to a rather disappointed end as they we ended up losing by five goals to nil.

The game was true to form, and goals from Riise (11, 48), Bergdølmo (35), Solksjær (79) and Paulsen Hangeland (90) helped the Norwegian side outclass the San Marinese team.

San Marino showed at time they could live with the home side with some good football in places but, in the end, the San Marinese rarely posed a threat and they were deservedly beaten. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">|No. | Name | |Rat|Gls||No. | Name | |Rat|Gls||-----------------------------------------------||-----------------------------------------------|| 1 | Espen Johnsen | | 7 | || 1 | Nicola Giardi | | 4 | || 2 | Vidar Riseth |(sub 62)| 7 | || 2 | Fabio Bollini | | 5 | || 3 | Andre Bergdølmo | | 8 | 1 || 3 | A. Della Valle | | 6 | || 4 | Andre Muri | | 7 | || 4 | Alex Gasperoni | | 5 | || 5 | Ronny Johnsen (C) | | 7 | || 5 | Paolo Cupi | | 5 | || 6 | Ole Gunnar Solskjær | | 8 | 1 || 6 | Alessandro Francioni | Booked | 6 | || 7 |* JOHN ARNE RIISE | | 9 | 2 || 7 | Raffaele Moroni (C) | | 6 | || 8 | Eirik Bakke |(sub 73)| 7 | || 8 | Mirco Zanotti | | 6 | || 9 | Daniel Berg Hestad | | 7 | || 9 | Nicola Chiaruzzi | | 6 | ||10 | Martin Andresen | | 7 | ||10 | Andy Selva |(inj 15)| 4 | ||11 | John Carew |(sub 73)| 7 | ||11 | Manuel Marani | | 6 | ||-----------------------------------------------||-----------------------------------------------||12 | Per Morten Kristiansen | | | ||12 | Gianluca Gatti | (on 15)| 4 | ||14 | Tommy Øren | (on 73)| 7 | ||14 | Massimo Mariotti | | | ||15 | Azar Karadas | | | ||15 | Andrea Raschi | | | ||16 | Magne Hoseth | (on 73)| 7 | ||16 | Davide Selva | | | ||17 | Brede Paulsen Hangeland| (on 73)| 7 | 1 ||17 | Elia Gerini | | | ||18 | Thorstein Helstad | | | ||18 | Michele Bollini | | | ||19 | Tore Andre Flo | | | ||19 | Michele Mancini | | | |</pre>

enjikari

FYR of Macedonia vs. San Marino - World Cup Qualifying European Section Group 3
Gradski Stadion, Skopje

FYR of Macedonia - 5-3-2
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> &lt;------ D. Janevski V. Grozdanovski------&gt; A. Sakiri K. Kostovski V. Trayanov ^ ^ | | | | Z. Jovanovski G. Micevski Subs: Z. Toleski I. Jovanovski D. Nikolov K. Milosevski G. Ristovski V. Hristovski &lt;---D. Micevski B. Grncarov A. Micevski---&gt; B. Jovanovski I. Kostovski</pre>
San Marino - 4-1-3-2
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> A.Selva M.Marani ^ ^ ^ | | | | | | | | | | | | Subs: N. Chiaruzzi R. Moroni M. Zanotti G. Gatti M. Mariotti A. Raschi D. Selva E. Gerini A. Francioni M. Bollini M. ManciniA. Della Valle P. Cupi A. Gasperoni F.Bollini N.Giardi</pre>

enjikari

Confidence was surprisingly high considering the defeat to Norway and there was a sense of belief amongst the players that we could secure a point in Skopje away at Macedonia. Andy Selva had recovered from the knock he picked up from in Norway and this meant I was able to name an unchanged side for this match. We started a lot more confidently that we did in the Norway game, and within a couple of minutes the Macedonian defence was under pressure from Moroni, but Grnacov superbly blocked his effort.

Macedonia suffered a low in the shape of an injury to Vancho Trayanov and they were forced to make a change to their side after just five minutes. They did, however, start to come into the game more. Micevski forced a corner off Della Valle after some good work on the wing, and Grnacov connected with Sakiri's cross to volley just over the bar. This chance woke up the home crowd who got behind their team and Macedonia wasted no time in giving them a goal to cheer about.

We were actually on the attack when the Macedonian attack started. Francioni lost the ball to Dejan Micevski who played it forward to Janevski. Janevski turned very skilfully on the ball and passed it back to Dejan Micevski who knocked a lovely ball to Sakiri. Sakiri took the ball in his stride and slammed the ball low into the bottom-left corner past the helpless Giardi in goal.

This was a big blow to us after the good start we had made, alternatively it was a major lift to the home side and they started to put us under more pressure. Della Valle tried to dribble the ball away from the box after heavy Macedonian pressure, but Aleksandar Micevski robbed him of the ball. Aleksandar Micevski played the ball into the space now vacated by Della Valle and Goran Micevski latched onto it. He played a cross-field pass to Grozdanovski, but Fabio Bollini managed to turn it behind for a corner, which was duly taken and cleared.

Goran Micevski had a couple more attempts to extend his side's one goal advantage before we managed to have another attempt at goal. Kire Kostovski earned himself a yellow card with a foul on Zanotti and the free kick was lofted forward by Alex Gasperoni. Andy Selva jumped highest in the penalty area to get his head on the ball, but Igor Kostovski easily stopped the header.

Half time came and went with no change to either team, no player changes anyway. Macedonia seemed to come out with a more attack-minded mentality and this was shown early on in the second half when they got another goal to go two-nil ahead. We conceded possession after a lapse of concentration from a throw-in and Kire Kostovski flicked the ball to Janevski. Janevski turned on the ball played a wonderful ball through to an unmarked Sakiri, who composed himself before slotting the ball home for his second of the game.

We had just over half an hour to try and get ourselves back in the game, and with Macedonia dropping slightly in terms of attacking football, we started to venture forward to try and get one of the goals we needed. Grozdanovski picked up another yellow card and conceded a free kick to the left of the box. Unfortunately, it seemed to be an exact replica of the last time we had a free kick in this position. Selva was the player who won the ball in the air from the cross, but Igor Kostovski easily gathered the ball to safety.

We were running out of time to get the goal and Macedonia were showing no weaknesses in their defence and not giving us any chances to pull ourselves back into the game. We couldn't find a way through the stronghold in the defence in the last few minutes, and we took another blow in the last few minutes when we lost Alex Gasperoni through injury. The final whistle went and the players trudged of the pitch after our second defeat in a row.

There were good things to come out of the game however. Alessandro Francioni, apparently wanted by Aston Villa, and Raffaele Moroni both had good games, despite not playing regular football due to being without a club. Andy Selva, showing no signs of the injury he sustained in Norway, also had a very good game and it gives us some hope for our next game at home to Turkey.

enjikari

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
Poor Finishing Costs San Marino Dear

15.9.04

Macedonia 2-0 San Marino (World Cup Quals (EUR) Grp 3)

San Marino followed up the defeat in Norway with a better performance in Skopje, but still ended up losing to Macedonia by two goals to nil.

The game was quite evenly contested between both sides despite the home team being clear favourites to win the match, but in the end a brace from West Brom's Artim Sakiri (15,57) was enough to claim victory for the Macedonians.

San Marino will probably look back to the fact that they failed to show the same level of ruthlessness in front of goal as their opponents and they ultimately paid the price. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">|No. | Name | |Rat|Gls||No. | Name | |Rat|Gls||-----------------------------------------------||-----------------------------------------------|| 1 | Igor Kostovski | | 8 | || 1 | Nicola Giardi | | 7 | || 2 | Aleksandar Micevski |(sub 82)| 8 | || 2 | Fabio Bollini | | 6 | || 3 | Boban Grnacov | | 7 | || 3 | A. Della Valle | | 7 | || 4 | Dejan Micevski | | 8 | || 4 | Alex Gasperoni |(inj 88)| 5 | || 5 | Goran Micevski | Booked | 7 | || 5 | Paolo Cupi | | 6 | || 6 | Zoran Jovanovski | | 7 | || 6 | Alessandro Francioni | | 8 | || 7 | Vancho Trayanov | (inj 5)| 5 | || 7 | Raffaele Moroni (C) | | 8 | || 8 | Kiri Kostovski | | 7 | || 8 | Mirco Zanotti | | 7 | || 9 |* ARTIM SAKIRI | | 9 | 2 || 9 | Nicola Chiaruzzi | | 7 | ||10 | Vlatko Grozdanovski | | 7 | ||10 | Andy Selva | | 8 | ||11 | Dragan Janevski |(sub 82)| 7 | ||11 | Manuel Marani |(sub 81)| 3 | ||-----------------------------------------------||-----------------------------------------------||12 | Zoran Toleski | | | ||12 | Gianluca Gatti | (on 81)| 6 | ||14 | Illija Jovanoski | (on 5) | 6 | ||14 | Massimo Mariotti | | | ||15 | Dejan Nikolov | (on 82)| 6 | ||15 | Andrea Raschi | | | ||16 | Kire Milosevski | (on 82)| 6 | ||16 | Davide Selva | (on 88)| 6 | ||17 | Goran Ristovski | | | ||17 | Elia Gerini | | | ||18 | Vanco Hristovski | | | ||18 | Michele Bollini | | | ||19 | Blagoja Jovanovski | | | ||19 | Michele Mancini | | | |</pre>

enjikari

*Cheers glamdring*

----

So far this group is going as expected. Norway and Turkey have both won their opening games to secure a 100% record so far. Slovakia and Macedonia have both won and lost a game out of their opening two, with us and Malta yet to record a point. We are also the only team yet to register a goal in the group.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Group 3 P W D L F A PTS-----------------------------------------------------------------Norway 2 2 0 0 9 0 6-----------------------------------------------------------------Turkey 2 2 0 0 8 1 6FYR of Macedonia 2 1 0 1 2 4 3Slovakia 2 1 0 1 2 5 3Malta 2 0 0 2 2 6 0SAN MARINO 2 0 0 2 0 7 0</pre>

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Results so far: | SAN MARINO QUALIFYING RESULTS Saturday 11th September 2004 | | Norway 5-0 San Marino Malta 1-2 Slovakia | FYR of Macedonia 2-0 San Marino Norway 5-0 SAN MARINO | San Marino - Turkey Turkey 4-0 FYR Macedonia | San Marino - Malta | Slovakia - San Marino Wednesday 15th September 2004 | San Marino - FYR of Macedonia | Turkey - San Marino Norway 4-0 Slovakia | San Marino - Norway FYR Macedonia 2-0 SAN MARINO | Malta - San Marino Turkey 4-1 Malta | San Marino - Slovakia</pre>