Worst in the World Hall of Fame – Aldo Simoncini

With the recent successful exploits of the San Marino team in grabbing a 0-0 draw with Estonia which saw them rise from the pits of global football despair known as the foot of the FIFA world rankings to the giddy heights of somewhere not far above the bottom, also known as joint 180th, it seemed appropriate to reward the most prominent hero of that achievement in a Hall of Fame.

The inaugural inductee into the newly formed World in the World Hall of Fame is the San Marino goalkeeper Aldo Simoncini, whose string of fine saves that had kept scores low in previous matches now saw San Marino claim a first ever competitive clean sheet.

Simoncini, a 28 year old semi professional who also moonlights as an accountant, has something of an interesting back story.  As a teenager he played for Modena in Italy’s Serie B, a level only the great Massimo Bonini once of Juventus has exceeded as a Sammarinese, and was highly rated.  But his dreams of making it into the professional ranks were ended by a terrible car accident after which he was unsure of even playing the game again, let alone climbing to higher levels.  At the time the doctors weren’t even sure he’d be able to walk normally again.

Latest FIFA Rankings November 2014 - San Marino's Delight

They have had to wait years for this day to come along, but after the astonishing 0-0 draw with Estonia two weeks ago, San Marino are officially no longer the (joint) worst team in world football.

That single result, coming against a team ranked 120 places higher than them, and not only that but coming in a regional qualifier rather than a friendly and being part of a strong confederation in UEFA, has seen San Marino’s points tally rocket from a stone cold zero up to the startling total of 55.

European Championships: San Marino 0-0 Estonia

Saturday 15th November 2014
European Championships Qualifying Group E
Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino

San Marino 0-0 Estonia

Oh my!  They’ve only gone and done it!  After thirteen and a half long years without a competitive point in either World Cup or European Championship qualifying, San Marino secured a stunning 0-0 draw against Estonia.  And stunning is the word, with Aldo Simoncini in goal earning the greatest of plaudits for his string of fine saves throughout, but with San Marino managing to provide something of a threat going forwards at times too, albeit an occasional and limited one.

Sadly only 759 lucky souls were in attendance to witness history being made, compared to the 5,700 who witnessed the 4-0 defeat to Switzerland last month.  But those who stayed away missed the gaining of San Marino’s first ever European Championship point coming at the 60th attempt; their only two previous competitive non defeats coming in World Cup qualification.  It is also just over a decade since they last tasted anything other than defeat in what is to date their only ever victory;  a 1-0 friendly win over Liechtenstein in April 2004.

European Championships Qualifier: San Marino v. Estonia

Saturday 15th November 2014
European Championships Qualifying Group E
Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino

San Marino’s latest Euro 2016 qualifier sees them facing an Estonia side who they only played once before; a mere 1-0 defeat in a 2002 home friendly in Serravalle.

Estonia currently sit 88th in FIFA’s world rankings (38th in Europe), while our heroes are of course still stuck at the bottom, or as FIFA prefer to call it, =208th.

Estonia began their campaign with an impressive late win over Slovenia in Tallinn, but since then have fallen to two defeats.  Baltic rivals Lithuania secured a late 1-0 win over their neighbours in October, while Wayne Rooney’s goal did the same for England in Tallinn a few days later.

European Championships: San Marino 0-4 Switzerland

Tuesday 14th October 2014
European Championships Qualifying Group E
Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino

San Marino 0-4 Switzerland
 
A strong first half from the Swiss set them on their way to a predictably comfortable win in Serravalle over the Sammarinese boys in blue, who were missing top goal scorer Andy Selva to injury, replaced by Mattia Stefanelli.  The win provided Switzerland with their belated first points of the group.  Coming into this game, Switzerland had suffered defeats to England, 2-0 at home, and Slovenia, 1-0 away.
 
But this was always going to be an easier task and two goals from Haris Seferovic in the opening 24 minutes meant that any fears of a shock result were well and truly dismissed early on.  A third was added before half an hour was up through Blerim Dzemaili and a fourth in the second half from Xherdan Shaqiri.
 
Switzerland had fifteen attempts on target, so I guess from a San Marino point of view the slight crumb of comfort is that only four of those found their way past Aldo Simoncini in the San Marino goal.  San Marino did manage two attempts on target themselves too which is something of a feat, one of which came in the opening minute when memories of Davide Gualtieri were rekindled as Giovanni Bonini bombed forward on the right only to panic slightly when the goal appeared before him, seeing his effort saved at the near post.
 
San Marino coach Pierangelo Manzaroli was happy enough afterwards, rightly surmising that his team did well to avoid a heavier defeat. 
 
“I believe in teamwork and in my group. We have 30 interesting players, who made, make and will make sacrifices to be involved in this kind of game. They are an example even for professional players like the Swiss, who do this as a job.
 
We accept this result, knowing that the margin of defeat could have been wider and there are many things that need improving, first of all the athletic performance.
 
Our squad needs to be evaluated day by day. We are very proud of Stefanelli's performance tonight. Andy Selva was not in the right condition to play but we can rely on him. We have other players who haven't featured yet, but the next games will be an opportunity for them.
 
Aldo Simoncini is different class for us – he's not a professional player although he has the ability to be one. He's reaching maturity and we are very happy to have him in our team.”
 
Swiss coach Valdimir Petkovic was also full of praise for Simoncini’s efforts, stating “I’d like to congratulate SImoncini – he made some quality saves.”  Although he did add that his side hadn’t created as many chances as he thought they should have done; a failing they’d shown in all three matches so far in the group.
 
Two days earlier, the other sides in Group E played out their fixtures, the results below:

Estonia 0-1 England
Lithuania 0-2 Slovenia
 
All of which leaves the Group E standing like this:

England         Pl. 3 Pts. 9
Slovenia             2 6
Lithuania            3 6
Switzerland        3 3
Estonia                3 3
San Marino         3 0
 
 

Euro 2016: England 5-0 San Marino

Thursday 9th October 2014

European Championships Qualifying Group E

Wembley Stadium, London, England

England 5-0 San Marino

San Marino suffered a 5-0 defeat at Wembley that actually saw a little more progressive play from the boys in blue than had been the case in their previous recent matches with England.  While not threatening very often or very convincingly, they did at least have a couple of efforts on goal and looked to get forward when the opportunity arose.  It didn't arise often of course; there were repeated occasions when there was simply no out ball.  But it was noticeable to me that under coach Pierangelo Manzeroli that San Marino are willing to try a little more than simply to frustrate.

Manzeroli has had a little but of success (it's all relative of course...) with the under-21 side, including a victory of Wales not so long ago, and it is encouraging what he is looking to implement with the senior side.

San Marino Back In Action

European Championships Qualifiers 

England v. San Marino
Thursday 9th October 2014

European Championships Qualifying Group E

Wembley Stadium, London, England 

San Marino continue their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign with the latest edition of what is becoming something of a regular fixture in European qualifying.  Having met in the last round of qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, the two sides had also previously met famously in 1994 World Cup qualifying.

On those occasions, England won by six goals in both matches but of course it was San Marino's goal through David Gualtieri which has remained in everyone's memories; the fastest ever goal in World Cup football.  Here it is again for your enjoyment/amusement/embarrassment:

Euro 2016: San Marino 0-2 Lithuania

Monday 8^th September 2014

European Championships Qualifying Group E

Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino

San Marino 0-2 Lithuania

San Marino's Euro 2016 campaign got under way last week in Serravalle with a promising if ultimately futile performance from the boys in blue.

Two first half goals were sufficient to take the points for the Baltic nation, but the narrowness of the scoreline come full time with provide some small crumbs of comfort for San Marino.  It was a bad start however, as Lithuania took the lead after just four minutes when Mindaugas Kalonas was put clear on the right hand side and crossed for Deivydas Matulevicius to prod home into an unguarded net.

European Championships Qualifier: San Marino v. Lithuania

European Championships Qualifier: San Marino v. Lithuania

Monday 8^th September 2014

European Championships Qualifying Group E

Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino

San Marino get their Euro 2016 campaign up and running with a home fixture against Lithuania; a match which according to the world rankings represents San Marino’s best hope for avoiding a defeat in this group.

Best hope it may be but it’s a rather slim and unlikely one.  Lithuania are currently ranked 103^rd by FIFA as compared to San Marino’s 208^th, but that does make them the second lowest ranked team in the group.  For completeness, the other rankings are Switzerland (9^th), England (20^th), Slovenia (39^th) and Estonia (93^rd).  It doesn’t sound quite so bad if I mention that Lithuania re the 45^th ranked European team, a mere 8 places above San Marino, but let’s be honest; the world ranking figure is a truer reflection in this case.

FIFA Rankings July 2014: Turks & Caicos Climb

Following on from their victory over the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Cup last month the Turks & Caicos Islands have climbed well clear off the bottom of the FIFA world rankings with a frankly astonishing 66 point haul courtesy of that lone victory.

That sees them climb 26 places in the ranking tale to 181^st and ends a stay at the bottom of the rankings that had lasted since October 2012.  Additionally, they are now ranked 29 out of the 35 CONCACAF nations thanks to their recent relative success.

Caribbean Cup: British Virgin Islands 0-2 Turks & Caicos Islands

Tuesday 3^rd June 2014

Caribbean Cup Qualifier Preliminary Round Group Two

Trinidad Stadium, Oranjestad, Aruba

Gavin Glinton came back in to replace Stevens Derilien and Kely Louima and Syed Hassan replaced Paul Collis and Marc-donald Fenelus.  Crucially, Raymondon Azemard was fit enough to start in goal.

Looking for their first win in an international fixture in over six years, since a World Cup win over St Lucia in February 2008, the Turks & Caicos players set about their task with purpose.

Caribbean Cup: Turks & Caicos Islands 0-6 French Guiana

Sunday 1^st June 2014

Caribbean Cup Qualifier Preliminary Round Group Two

Trinidad Stadium, Oranjestad, Aruba

Making just one change to the starting line up from an impressive opening showing against Aruba, Turks & Caicos were looking to continue their form against French Guiana.  Striker Stevens Derilien replaced the injured Gavin Glinton as he had done during the first half of the opening match.

French Guiana are not FIFA affiliated, being a part of France rather than in independent nation, and so the result from this match would have no bearing on Turks & Caicos Islands FIFA ranking.  Put in that context, if you’re going to get humped 6-0 you may as well do it against a team that won’t affect your ranking.  Had Turks & Caicos avoided defeat here it would have been frustrating to have still been rooted to the foot of the world rankings.

Caribbean Cup: Aruba 1-0 Turks & Caicos Islands

Friday 30^th May 2014

Caribbean Cup Qualifier Preliminary Round Group Two

Trinidad Stadium, Oranjestad, Aruba

 Despite the huge gulf in world rankings between the two sides, the Turks & Caicos Islands put up an impressive showing in their opening group match in Oranjestad.  Playing against the host nation Aruba, our intrepid islanders gave as good as they got in a closely fought contest.

The only goal came after 28 minutes when Emile Linkers broke free through the middle and scored with a tidy finish lobbed over the onrushing Turks & Caicos keeper Raymondson Azimard.

2014 Caribbean Cup Qualifiers

More usually it has been the little volcanic rock of Montserrat that has been the focus of Worst in the World attention in the Caribbean, but of course they have risen from the depths and left us for a few years at least.  But our focus on the annual Caribbean Cup competition remains thanks to the Turks & Caicos Islands.

The Caribbean Cup itself will take place later in the year in Montego Bay, Jamaica; in November to be precise.  Eight teams will make it that far out of the 26 who entered this year.  Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Saint Martin and Sint Maarten did not enter, but thankfully Turks & Caicos did so we have some preliminary round action to look forward to.

Friendly Result: San Marino 0-3 Albania

San Marino 0-3 Albania

International Friendly

Sunday 8^th June 2014

Stadio Olimpico di Serravalle

San Marino had kept Albania at bay for almost half an hour, restricting them to a few long range efforts but nothing too dangerous.  San Marino even managed one or two attacks of their own, though naturally none of them were particularly threatening.

San Marino to play friendly with Albania

Just ahead of the World Cup Finals in Brazil, a tournament of little interest to our intrepid heroes at the foot of the football world, San Marino will host Albania in a friendly match in Serravalle on Sunday 8^th June.

The two have only met once before, in a friendly match in 2006.  On that occasion Albania claimed victory with a comfortable 3-0 scoreline.  A beating, but hardly a bad one.

San Marino's Euro 2016 Schedule

The qualifying draw for the 2016 European Championships took place at the weekend in the south of France and for our European representative, San Marino, it produced the only outcome it could possibly have done, namely a tough draw.

Drawn into Group E, San Marino are paired with England as the seeded nation, the third time this has happened to the Sammarinese, though the previous two were in World Cup qualifying.  The other teams in the group are Switzerland, Slovenia, Estonia and Lithuania who will provide San Marino’s first opponents in September this year.