San Marino hold Estonia to end 61- match losing streak

The minnows picked up a point in European
Championship qualifying for the first time ever and
ended a disastrous run of defeats that dates back to
2004

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San Marino held Estonia to

a 0-0 draw on Saturday

night to secure an historic

result that saw them end an

astonishing 61-match losing

streak.

The microstate has a population of just over 30,000

and prior to the point against Estonia, which was

their first-ever in European Championship

qualifying and sparked wild celebrations at full-

time, they had scored just one goal in their last 15

matches and conceded 72 times.

San Marino beat Liechtenstein 1-0 in a 2004

friendly and have drawn against Turkey and Latvia

in World Cup qualifying, but have lost every other

international game in their history.

Thirty-eight-year-old captain Andy Selva, who was

playing in his 67th international, was ecstatic after

the match.

"I remember the win in Liechtenstein in 2004 but

this has a different meaning," Selva said.

"I have been waiting for a result like this for 11

years. We are upset about some opportunities we

didn't take over that time.

"We searched for this result for years and now we

have found it.

"We want to dedicate this result to Federico

Crescentini, a former international who died some

years ago."

Coach Pierangelo Manzaroli was earning one of his

38 caps on the pitch the last time San Marino

earned a competitive point - in a 1-1 draw away to

Latvia in World Cup qualifying in 2001 - and he

said the nation worked hard to get the result.

"In recent months our workload has increased and

the work has paid off," Manzaroli said.

"This result is a reward for the players and it will

be an incentive to gain other good results sooner

than in 12 years' time."

On the wrong side of history, Estonia coach

Magnus Pehrsson refused to accept San Marino

were worthy of their point - claiming his side

helped them by making too many errors.

"We made a lot of technical mistakes during the

game," Pehrsson lamented.

"I think there are three main reasons for this

result: first the players didn't recover well from

the match against Norway three days ago.

Moreover, we haven't been able to develop the

ideas and tactical opportunities we worked on

ahead of this game.

"I blame myself for this and take full

responsibility. Finally we seemed too stressed

about this game and we didn't perform as

expected.

"San Marino played the game we expected from

them: deep defence and counterattacks.

"We have made a lot of history in recent days by

winning in Norway and now helping San Marino

gain a point."

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