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San Marino score first home goal in six years

Euro 2020 qualifying: Filippo Berardi scored a consolation for San Marino in Saturday's clash with Kazakhstan to end their long wait for a goal.

By Daniel Lewis
Filippo Berardi

Serravalle (San Marino), November 17: San Marino scored their first home goal in six years – and their first of any kind since 2017 – in Saturday's 3-1 Euro 2020 qualifying defeat to Kazakhstan.

Placed 209th in the latest FIFA rankings, joint-bottom with Anguilla, San Marino's run without a goal on home soil stretched back 20 matches since a 5-1 loss against Poland in September 2013.

They had also failed to find the net home or away since Mirko Palazzi's consolation goal in a 5-1 reverse at the hands of Azerbaijan 26 months ago, suffering 9-0 defeats to Russia and Belgium and an 8-0 loss to Norway during that streak.

Those barren goalscoring runs ended in the qualifying clash with Kazakhstan in Serravalle thanks to Filippo Berardi's second-half strike.

The 22-year-old winger, who plies his club trade for Serie C side Vibonese, rounded opposition goalkeeper Dmytro Nepogodov after latching onto a throughball and slotted into an empty net.

San Marino, 3-0 down at the time of the goal, remain bottom of Group I without a point and with a goal difference of -45 from their nine matches.

They have lost 35 competitive games in a row since a 0-0 draw with Estonia in Euro 2016 qualifying five years ago.

Story first published: Sunday, November 17, 2019, 8:38 [IST]
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