LONDON, (Reuters) – As England prepare to play San Marino, officially the joint-worst team in world soccer, at Wembley on Thursday, their former manager Graham Taylor has warned the players not to expect any praise, however many goals they win by.
Taylor was in charge of the England team drawn against San Marino in a qualifying group for the 1994 World Cup.
His side beat them 6-0 and 7-1 but, far from receiving any credit, he was sacked after the latter game, played in Bologna, Italy, for failing to reach the finals.
The players have even had to live ever since with going into the record books for conceding the quickest goal ever scored in a World Cup tie, when an errant backpass by Stuart Pearce allowed Davide Gualtieri to score after 8.3 seconds.
When San Marino faced England in the World Cup 20 years later, they again conceded 13 goals over the two matches, losing 5-0 and 8-0.
Those results emphasised that far from improving with regular competition, the team have got statistically worse, sinking to joint 208th place with Bhutan of the 209 countries in FIFA’s official rankings.
The tiny republic’s population of little more than 30,000 people have had only one victory to celebrate in their 24 years of international football. That came against Liechtenstein in 2004 and they have lost every match since.
So how does one of the world’s most powerful football nations, full of players earning tens of thousands of dollars per week, prepare to play against them?
“The main thing about playing teams like that is that you have to be very professional about everything, and accept that if you beat them 5-0 you’ll probably get no praise,” Taylor said in an interview with Reuters yesterday.
“That applies particularly this time when San Marino have not done anything in all these years.
“You’re expected to win, and if it’s only 2-0 or 3-0 you’ll be criticised. And it can present a problem unless players accept what they’ve got to do, which is maintain belief and professionalism.”
Taylor believes that the current England manager, Roy Hodgson, who was also in charge for the most recent meetings with San Marino, has sufficient experience not to take anything for granted in the Euro 2016 qualifier.
But he counsels against fielding a weakened team in order to blood new players, either on Thursday or away to Estonia on Sunday.
“England have a comfortable draw in their group and it’s a changing England team but I still believe in that balance between introducing youngsters and including more experienced players,” he said.
“I’m not a big lover of giving players a debut just because it’s San Marino. Some people say it’s the kind of game for that. No, it’s a game you have to win first and foremost.”
England, who won 2-0 away to Switzerland in their opening group match last month, will nevertheless have to use at least one inexperienced young defender for the two games, with several contenders for the right-back position now injured.
Everton’s John Stones dropped out on Sunday and was replaced by 19-year-old Calum Chambers of Arsenal. Nathaniel Clyne of Southampton, uncapped, is the only other recognised right-back in the squad.
Hodgson appears to have anticipated any criticism of a failure to win on Thursday by another big margin, telling reporters when he named the squad last week: “We scored 13 against San Marino last time but I don’t remember getting a great deal of praise or satisfaction about that.”
There is unlikely to be any much of either this time, whatever the score.
