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San Marino

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  • Kap10
    Kap10 Posts: 15,563
    lordromford said:
    ValleyGary said:
    lordromford said:
    Chris_from_Sidcup said:
    Despite being currently ranked as the world's worst team (but that will now change), finally after many years San Marino are now no longer the worst team in Europe.

    Last night they were promoted to the third tier of the Nations League after beating Liechtenstein. It was the first away win in their history, the first time they scored more than once in a competitive game and the first time they had ever scored three goals in a match.

    Is that right?
    Surely some of the Pacific Island nations are ranked lower? Samoa just got dicked 8-0 at home by New Zealand and have lost to Tahiti and Vanuatu.
    I can’t imagine San Marino are (or were) that bad?
    It goes on points tho. Those teams have probably picked up enough points in Pacific games or early WCQ to get more points than San Marino.
    Oh, I see. Thanks.
    I’d argue it’s a flawed system though. Even at their worst, when San Marino were getting 8-0 drubbings, it was always against Germany, Italy and the like. Never a nation like NZ that is, with the greatest of respect, not very good at football.
    Also, didn’t some nation get walloped about 30-0 a while back? How can they be anything other than bottom of the rankings?
    I feel San Marino have been harshly labelled. They’re not great, obviously, but I don’t think they’ve been the worst for some time.
    FIFA running a flawed system ..who'd have thought!
  • killerandflash
    killerandflash Posts: 69,844
    ValleyGary said:
    The Elo ratings might be slightly better (although Colombia are 4th). Particularly for the lower ranked teams.

    https://www.eloratings.net/
    I assume Out of the Blue will be their top rated album.
  • JaShea99
    JaShea99 Posts: 5,458
    It’s not just Samoa - NZ always play teams like that - New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji etc. You’d imagine SM could beat all of them on their day. As others have said though, the rankings have never been a reliable indicator of how good nations are though because of the points system and the way it works. 
  • Chris_from_Sidcup
    Chris_from_Sidcup Posts: 36,010
    JaShea99 said:
    It’s not just Samoa - NZ always play teams like that - New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji etc. You’d imagine SM could beat all of them on their day. As others have said though, the rankings have never been a reliable indicator of how good nations are though because of the points system and the way it works. 
    Now that Oceania is guaranteed a spot at the World Cup, NZ are pretty much going to always qualify. But despite this i wonder how long it will be before they follow Australia and apply to join the Asian setup. Take this week for example, they played two qualifiers and won 8-1 and 8-0. There is literally no competition for them. It's basically like England having to qualify for the World Cup by only playing teams from Nations League D.
  • follett
    follett Posts: 1,034
    Chris_from_Sidcup said:
    JaShea99 said:
    It’s not just Samoa - NZ always play teams like that - New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji etc. You’d imagine SM could beat all of them on their day. As others have said though, the rankings have never been a reliable indicator of how good nations are though because of the points system and the way it works. 
    Now that Oceania is guaranteed a spot at the World Cup, NZ are pretty much going to always qualify. But despite this i wonder how long it will be before they follow Australia and apply to join the Asian setup. Take this week for example, they played two qualifiers and won 8-1 and 8-0. There is literally no competition for them. It's basically like England having to qualify for the World Cup by only playing teams from Nations League D.
    Does it make sense for them to leave for Asia though, they are almost guaranteed a world cup spot staying in Oceania. The next round is a 4 team knockout (semis then finals), and are one legged. So who knows, maybe by miracle a Fiji or New Caledonia could fluke a result against NZ and qualify for the WC. It did happen with Tahiti making the confederations cup.
  • ForeverAddickted
    ForeverAddickted Posts: 94,318
    There are potentially two spots for Oceania at the World Cup Finals although dont see it happening.

    The team that end up second in OFC Qualifying (as after the Group Stage, it turns into a KO Tournament), will go into the InterContinental Play-Offs

    Looks like those Play-Offs will be a new format to previous Qualifying tournaments, however whoever finishes second in Oceania could well take a spanking in that alone from those that qualify from other Continents - In 2014; New Zealand themselves got spanked 9-3 on agg. by Mexico
  • Off_it
    Off_it Posts: 28,845
    Maybe Scotland could join the Oceania qualifying group? I'd back them to get a point against Tahiti. 
  • Friend Or Defoe
    Friend Or Defoe Posts: 18,083
    If NZ leave we'll have a Pacific Island team guaranteed a spot. They'll probably change it back to a playoff spot. 
  • Chris_from_Sidcup
    Chris_from_Sidcup Posts: 36,010
    follett said:
    Chris_from_Sidcup said:
    JaShea99 said:
    It’s not just Samoa - NZ always play teams like that - New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji etc. You’d imagine SM could beat all of them on their day. As others have said though, the rankings have never been a reliable indicator of how good nations are though because of the points system and the way it works. 
    Now that Oceania is guaranteed a spot at the World Cup, NZ are pretty much going to always qualify. But despite this i wonder how long it will be before they follow Australia and apply to join the Asian setup. Take this week for example, they played two qualifiers and won 8-1 and 8-0. There is literally no competition for them. It's basically like England having to qualify for the World Cup by only playing teams from Nations League D.
    Does it make sense for them to leave for Asia though, they are almost guaranteed a world cup spot staying in Oceania. The next round is a 4 team knockout (semis then finals), and are one legged. So who knows, maybe by miracle a Fiji or New Caledonia could fluke a result against NZ and qualify for the WC. It did happen with Tahiti making the confederations cup.
    You could argue the same for Australia though but they moved.

    Obviously by moving NZ would make it harder for themselves to qualify, but then they'd be playing a lot more games and it would be far more competitive for them. From what i can tell they will currently play a maximum of FIVE games to qualify, which is quite pathetic.  
  • JustFloydRoad
    JustFloydRoad Posts: 1,612

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  • Friend Or Defoe
    Friend Or Defoe Posts: 18,083
    Off_it said:
    Maybe Scotland could join the Oceania qualifying group? I'd back them to get a point against Tahiti. 
    Joking aside, great result for them on Monday. Thankfully they always mess it up when it really matters.
  • Swisdom
    Swisdom Posts: 14,977
    There's a really good podcast I listen to and they often feature San Marino on their travels

    It's called The Sweeper and talks about all the international minnows as well as funny stories from all over the globe.  Strongly recommended

    They talked about an international tournament a while ago that was going to invite the lowest ranked teams in the world for a crap-team world cup style tournement.
  • MuttleyCAFC
    MuttleyCAFC Posts: 47,728
    Friend Or Defoe said:
    Off_it said:
    Maybe Scotland could join the Oceania qualifying group? I'd back them to get a point against Tahiti. 
    Joking aside, great result for them on Monday. Thankfully they always mess it up when it really matters.
    They hit the post twice too.
  • Leuth
    Leuth Posts: 23,314
    Swisdom said:
    There's a really good podcast I listen to and they often feature San Marino on their travels

    It's called The Sweeper and talks about all the international minnows as well as funny stories from all over the globe.  Strongly recommended

    They talked about an international tournament a while ago that was going to invite the lowest ranked teams in the world for a crap-team world cup style tournement.
    Presumably loser goes through, then a grand final to determine the Worst? 
  • Addickted4life
    Addickted4life Posts: 7,467
    edited November 2024
    Stumbled across this on Youtube, covering the first Liechtenstein win, very wholesome viewing - 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCYNrPfIzQw&t=632s
  • Ferryman
    Ferryman Posts: 2,921
    San Marino were often ranked as the worst team but were always playing teams from the top 100, whereas the other lowly ranked were not.
  • Exiled_Addick
    Exiled_Addick Posts: 17,168
    JustFloydRoad said:

    Imagine your bogey team being San Marino! That's depressing even by Charlton standards.
  • stackitsteve
    stackitsteve Posts: 12,102
    Excellent graphic highlighting San Marino on the longest unbeaten run in their history. 


  • oohaahmortimer
    oohaahmortimer Posts: 34,145
    Change the L & D’s around and you have Charltons results since NJ took over 
  • Friend Or Defoe
    Friend Or Defoe Posts: 18,083
    stackitsteve said:
    Excellent graphic highlighting San Marino on the longest unbeaten run in their history. 


    Looks like a Welsh word search.
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  • MuttleyCAFC
    MuttleyCAFC Posts: 47,728
    Lovely place. You don't need more than a day there but I would reccomend a visit. 
  • sam3110
    sam3110 Posts: 21,261
    Silly question, but surely there's some good Italians that live close enough to San Marino to qualify for them? Couldn't they just buy some property in the San Marino hills and claim citizenship? 
  • DaveMehmet
    DaveMehmet Posts: 21,598
    edited November 2024
    MuttleyCAFC said:
    Lovely place. You don't need more than a day there but I would reccomend a visit. 
    There's a great Ferrari museum there

    Edit. There used to be, just seen it closed 10 years ago!
  • Friend Or Defoe
    Friend Or Defoe Posts: 18,083
    sam3110 said:
    Silly question, but surely there's some good Italians that live close enough to San Marino to qualify for them? Couldn't they just buy some property in the San Marino hills and claim citizenship? 
    No idea why I jumped down the rabbit hole, but google states

    You may be eligible for citizenship after living in San Marino for at least 20 years. However, if you are married to a San Marino citizen or have parents of San Marino origin, you may be eligible after 10 years. You must also renounce your previous citizenship, have never been convicted of a criminal offense in San Marino or abroad, and have never received a prison sentence of more than one year.

    Basically you need San Marino parents/grandparents or to marry one. This country will not abandon its principles for the benefit of sport!
  • Gisappointed
    Gisappointed Posts: 990
    edited November 2024
    Swisdom said:
    There's a really good podcast I listen to and they often feature San Marino on their travels

    It's called The Sweeper and talks about all the international minnows as well as funny stories from all over the globe.  Strongly recommended

    They talked about an international tournament a while ago that was going to invite the lowest ranked teams in the world for a crap-team world cup style tournament.
    Perhaps they could do a play off between sides with a population in five figures and the CONIFA top teams?

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