Skipper Simoncini will never refuse San Marino’s call

SAN MARINO captain Davide Simoncini admits he is baffled by the plethora of call-offs that have undermined Scotland boss Alex McLeish.

The 32-year-old, who plays part-time football for local side Libertas as a sideline to his career as an accountant, admits he feels privileged every time he turns out for the tiny republic.

A central defender, Simoncini earned his 56th cap in San Marino’s 5-0 defeat away to Cyprus on night one of the Euro 2020 qualifiers. Meanwhile, Scotland were sinking to a 3-0 reverse in Kazakhstan, minus a host of first-choice of players.

Although positive results are rare for a San Marino side ranked the lowest in the world, Simoncini insists the privilege of representing his country makes all the professional and personal sacrifice worth it.

‘I should know the reasons before expressing my opinion, but I cannot imagine rejecting a call from my national team,’ said Simoncini, who will skipper his team in the San Marino Stadium this afternoon.

‘It’s not easy. Some people think we’re lucky — and so we are, in certain aspects — but nobody knows how many sacrifices we must make to train and be at our best.

‘We play each game with a huge determination, not because of our ranking, but because we know the gap between professional and non-professional players is really wide.

‘Scotland will surely want to cancel out their first result in the European qualifiers by playing a great game in San Marino. We’ll try to be prepared for it.’

Drawing from a population of just 33,500, San Marino have a shallow pool to pick from and, under normal circumstances, Simoncini’s twin brother Aldo (currently injured) would also be in goals for tonight’s match.

‘In terms of communication on the pitch sometimes a gaze is enough to understand each other,’ continues Simoncini. ‘But it’s never easy, even when Aldo’s on the line.

‘I have had to play against Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robert Lewandowski, Wayne Rooney and so on, and I could not choose one as the most difficult; all of them represent a great level of playing.

‘In terms of Scotland, the most known player is certainly Andy Robertson who plays for Liverpool. They’re a huge team and — despite individual skills — this is our focus: Scotland.’

Unsurprisingly for a defender, Simoncini highlights a clean sheet as his favourite moment in a San Marino shirt.

He explained: ‘Each goal scored by this team is a huge achievement, however the best memory is our match against Estonia that ended with no goals scored.

‘Even if we’re not professional we don’t like to lose, the same as every other team.’

One of only three players in the current Sammarinese squad to have scored an international goal, Matteo Vitaioli dreams of adding a second to the strike he registered against Lithuania in a Euro 2016 qualifier in Vilnius.

‘That goal is a memory I’ll always carry with me,’ reflects the 29-year-old.

‘It was the equaliser and we were one man up. I won’t forget the group of players who covered me during celebration! Unfortunately we were not so lucky during additional time.

‘It would be great to do it again — not so many players have scored twice for our national team and in general it’s always euphoria when you score in an international match.

‘Because of the technical difference on pitch, we’re all focused on the non-possession side of the game because we spend most of each match without the ball.

‘But things have been changing in the last few months. With the arrival of Franco Varrella as the new head coach we’re trying to keep the ball more.

‘It’s always difficult to make the leap from club football to international level, because locally you normally face balanced opponents who should be no better or worse than you.

‘It will be hard but we will try to beat Scotland.’