Marcello Mularoni (in blue) in action against Liechtenstein during a UEFA Nations League match. – Giuseppe Maffia/DeFodi Images/Getty Images
According to Rossi, this double life is one of the reasons why San Marino has struggled over the years.
“We have a lot of people in the squad who work or study. That takes up a lot of time and definitely a lot of concentration,” he said.
“We are not professionals who can dedicate our time and have economic well-being for a lifetime and have our minds solely on football. We have a lot of problems, we have family, we have a lot of things to think of besides football. It gets really complicated because (other teams) are 100% dedicated to this.”
According to Rossi, it is not easy to lose so heavily, so often. Between 2006 and 2023, San Marino held the unwanted record of suffering the biggest defeat in European Championship qualifying history – a 13-0 drubbing by Germany.
Bernd Schneider makes it 13-0, scoring a penalty past San Marino goalkeeper Aldo Simoncini. – Giampiero Sposito/Reuters
September 7, 2006, remains a dark day for anyone who follows San Marino. Two months earlier, Germany had been beaten by Italy in the last minute of a World Cup semifinal in Dortmund.
Believing San Marino to be essentially Italian, Die Mannschaft took revenge. German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann even had to be talked out of taking a penalty by the Sammarinese players who, already 12-0 down, had faced enough humiliation.
Rossi did not play in that game, but he did feature on another infamous day in the nation’s soccer history, a 10-0 loss to England in November 2021.
“That game was the most difficult, on a personal level and as a group, that we have had to face,” remembered Rossi. “It was painful. We did suffer after that game, to tell you the truth. We suffered a lot. But hey, it happens. That’s football.
“We are San Marino, we always have to suffer!”
So frequent are the heavy defeats that Rossi has learned to take the positives wherever he can, including from another game against England that year.
“In 2021, we played at Wembley against England and lost 5-0,” he said. “5-0 is obviously a big scoreline, but for us at Wembley, it was almost good. Maybe not good, but definitely acceptable.”
The defender is philosophical about what it means to play for a team which only won one of its first 210 games, a 1-0 victory over Liechtenstein in an exhibition match in 2004.
“It’s very difficult to understand it because football is a sport where the most important thing – the only thing, sometimes – is to win and become champions,” he explained. “But I don’t think it’s one extreme or the other. Everyone has to look at their own reality and what they can do with it, even the small things.”
Bukayo Saka scores England’s 10th goal during the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against San Marino. – Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images
Looking on the bright side
San Marino’s fans have also learned how to remain upbeat, even if they can afford to be slightly more self-deprecating. Fan account @SanMarino_FA has garnered 178k followers – more than five times as many people as the population of the country itself – on X, formerly known as Twitter, with a humorous account of what it is like to support the team.
“It’s a hell of a ride!” laughed its admin, who goes by the pseudonym Martino Bastianelli, in an interview with CNN Sport. “I always think, ‘Maybe today is the day.’ But then they start playing.”
Even more tongue-in-cheek is the national team’s main supporters’ group, the Brigata Mai 1 Gioia, or “Never One Joy Brigade.”
“We are sick because we support San Marino,” Christian Santini, a Brigata member since 2018, told CNN Sport. “We support a team that never wins.”
“I am not from San Marino,” he continued. “I live near the west coast of Italy. It takes me almost three hours to get to San Marino. We (the Brigata) have a Bavarian man who drives to San Marino from Munich. We have people from Austria, two Irish guys, a French guy.
“These are sick people. Simple.”
Rossi celebrates with San Marino manager Roberto Cevoli following the 1-0 victory over Liechtenstein. – Pruccoli/FSGC
Opportunities to play against teams of a similar level do not come around too often, Mularoni explained.
“About four years ago, we faced Gibraltar and Liechtenstein and there was pressure – like, ‘Woah, we have to win,’” he said. “But this time against Liechtenstein, we didn’t have those kinds of thoughts. It was like, ‘We can win,’ not ‘We have to win.’”
Nonetheless, the team was aware that it had to be at its best. “We knew that to win the game, or to have a chance of winning the game, we would have to do everything perfectly,” said Rossi. “There was no other way – if we made mistakes, we would lose.”
The game itself was far from a classic. One goal early in the second half from 19-year-old Nicko Sensoli – who had not yet been born when San Marino last won – was enough. But the quality of the game was the last thing on Rossi’s mind.
“It was an emotion that I will never forget for the rest of my life,” he said. “When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, everything stopped, like in a movie. I couldn’t hear anything. It was incredible.
“That adrenaline rush where you don’t know what to do with yourself. I think I hugged my teammates, went to the coach, looked at the stands to find my daughter, and just enjoyed it.”
San Marino players celebrate the win over Liechtenstein, the first competitive victory in the team’s history. – Pierini/FSGC
Back in the locker room, Rossi saw not only what it meant to his teammates, but also to the people of San Marino.
“Emotion, tears, joy, hugs, photos, messages – thousands of messages!” he said. “I don’t use social networks, but on WhatsApp, I received calls and messages from all of my colleagues.”
Mularoni’s experience was much the same. “The day after, when I got to work, everyone was congratulating me,” he said.
“I feel so proud of the staff and my teammates – not just the teammates who were on the pitch or on the bench that day, but also all the teammates I’ve trained with during my years in the national team.”
At the 176th time of asking, San Marino had won a competitive game. All that is left, joked Mularoni, is for the supporters’ group to recognize the achievement.
“The Brigata Mai 1 Gioia – ‘Never One Joy,’” he mused. “They should change the name!”
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Publish date : 2024-09-30 04:32:00
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