Football
ESPN staff 9y

San Marino ecstatic after historic first point in Euro qualifiers

San Marino's coach and captain were understandably ecstatic after they held Estonia to a 0-0 draw on Saturday, earning the country's first-ever point in European Championship qualifying.

The tiny country had lost 61 straight qualifiers and kept a clean sheet for just the fourth time in their history, including friendlies.

San Marino coach Pierangelo Manzaroli said a recent increase in training time helped the team earn their first competitive draw since a World Cup qualifier against Latvia in 2001.

"In recent months our workload has increased and the work has paid off," Manzaroli said. "This result is a reward for the players and it will be an incentive to gain other good results sooner than in 12 years' time."

San Marino's lone victory remains a 1-0 win over Liechtenstein in a 2004 friendly, but captain Andy Selva said Saturday's point -- in a competitive environment -- was different.

"I remember the win in Liechtenstein but this has a different meaning," he said. "I have been waiting for a result like this for 11 years.

"We are upset about some opportunities we didn't take. We want to dedicate this result to Federico Crescentini, a former international who died some years ago. We searched for this result for years and now we found it."

Estonia coach Magnus Pehrsson cited a quick turnaround from their win away to Norway on Wednesday, but also accepted responsibility for the disappointing draw.

"We made a lot of technical mistakes during the game," Pehrsson said.

"I think there are three main reasons for this result: first the players didn't recover well from the match against Norway three day ago.

"Moreover, we haven't been able to develop the ideas and tactical opportunities we worked on ahead of this game. I blame myself for this and take full responsibility.

"Finally we seemed too stressed about this game and we didn't perform as expected.

"San Marino played the game we expected from them: deep defence and counterattacks. We have made a lot of history in recent days by winning in Norway and now helping San Marino gain a point."

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