Big Minnows
The win that felt like a defeat
For the smaller teams of Europe, these are interesting times. A European qualifying campaign which began with Germany thumping San Marino 13-0 sparked a number of appalled analysts to bemoan the fact that such no-hopers were even permitted to take to the same pitch as the two-time world champions. Stern-faced pundits concurred that the already endangered value of international football would continue to be eroded by FIFA’s insistence on allowing sides like San Marino (then ranked ten places below Tahiti) a seat at the table, their only hope of influencing the outcome of the group being the difference in goals conceded between each hammering. Earnest talk about setting up a pre-qualifying mini-league of minnows was indulged in, with the winners going on to compete with the bigger boys in the qualification campaign proper. Some Irish dailies took to printing an altered group table, sans the Sammarinese, factoring in the six points they would concede that were taken for granted from every double header. Patronising? Yes. Justified? Well, not if you’re Irish. A few months after being turned over by the Germans, San Marino were drawing 1-1 with Ireland, courtesy of Manuele Marani’s 87th minute equaliser. A goal with the last kick of the game spared the Irish what would have been their worst ever result, although in many ways it was already that. San Marino, however, emerged with something the commentariat had deemed them incapable of retaining: their pride.
Native Mind 