by David Rata
San Marino, 211th nation in the world, will he suffer a new knockdown against Northern Ireland, 47th nation in the world? These two selections have faced each other 4 times and Northern Ireland have always won, scoring 14 goals and keeping a clean sheet. For this first day of the Qualifiers for the next Euro, the mission of this modest nation will be not to concede an avalanche of goals. Coach Constantini knows that his selection should finish in last place in his group, a selection that has totaled 46 defeats in his last 50 outings (4 draws) since June 10, 2017. In official competition, in the UEFA Nations League, Saint -Marin remains on 1 heavy loss at home to Estonia (0-4) after recently losing against Saint Lucia (0-1) in a friendly on November 20, 2022. Northern Ireland should start these Qualifications with a big victory at San Marino Stadium as in September 2017 (0-3). O’Neill’s selection has a balanced record in its last 3 Nations League meetings with 1 draw against Cyprus (2-2) followed by 1 victory against Kosovo (2-1) and 1 loss in Greece (3-1). Northern Ireland have always scored in their last 4 outings while San Marino have only had 1 unfortunate goal in their last 10 official matches.