Sportblog | The Guardian — San Marino RSS

Nov 15, 2021

England’s young guns add verve and meaning to an absurd mismatch | Barney Ronay

The excellence of Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe was the best thing about a farcically easy night in San MarinoIn defence of weird, silly games of football. How to spin this? With Qatar 2022 qualification ON THE LINE in San Marino Harry Kane produced a sensational first‑half four‑goal blitz. Hmm. Perhaps not. With Qatar 2022 qualification not – OK, fine – realistically on the line England sent out a stunning message with a clinical show of penalty-taking, goal-prodding and lunge‑hurdling. No. Maybe not that, either.There is on the face of it no defence for this game of attack versus no-defence, this 10-0 mauling, this exercise in mild sporting absurdity. Watching England shuttle the ball around beneath the sallow green...

Mar 29, 2021

San Marino don’t need derision of fans suffering delusions of grandeur | Barry Glendenning

Playing in a pre-qualifying league with fellow minnows would help them to improve and also benefit more established teamsBy no means the first football grandee to assert that playing international cannon fodder such as San Marino ought to be beneath the England team, Gary Lineker was the most recent and high profile. During the Wembley rout on Thursday, the man who served his country with so much distinction mused aloud on social media, tweeting: “Surely we’ve reached the stage where the lowest ranked nations should play among themselves to qualify for the right to play at this level. It’s become absurd.”While one suspects a younger Lineker would have happily looked past the absurdity of such a mismatch and seen instead...