San Marino are out to add to Scotland woes
San Marino skipper Davide Simoncini says he and his team-mates will be out to add to Scotland’s frustrations today.
James McFadden, assistant to national manager Alex McLeish, has spoken of the need to run up the goals against FIFA’s bottom-ranked nation.
But Simoncini insists they will find an opponent determined not to succumb to a second heavy defeat in the space of four days.
“We know Scotland will surely want to cancel out their first result in the European qualifiers by playing a great game in San Marino,” he said.
“They’re a huge team and, of course, we know Robertson from Liverpool. But we’ll try to be prepared for it.
“We play each game with a huge determination – not because of the ranking, but because we know the gap between professional and nonprofessional players is really wide.
“It’s not easy to play in a side which is constantly under pressure.
“Some people think we’re lucky to be players – and so we are, under certain aspects. But nobody knows how many sacrifices we must make to train.”
And as Simoncini points out, his country have not been completely without success.
“Each goal scored by this team is a huge result achieved. However, the best memory is the match against Estonia that ended with no goals scored,” he said.
“And as a defender, I have had to manage Rooney, Ibrahimovic, Lewandowski, and so on.
“It is not easy. But even though we’re not professional, we don’t like to lose, the same as every other team.”
Scotland Under-19s are 90 minutes away from reaching the European Championships for the first time in 13 years after Rangers kid Zak Rudden bagged a hat-trick to inspire a 4-0 triumph over Cyprus.
Rudden, who found the net in the impressive 3-1 triumph over Turkey last Wednesday, continued his prolific streak and also teed up fellow Gers starlet Glenn Middleton to slot home.
Billy Stark’s side, which also included Celtic midfielder Ewan Henderson and Chelsea’s Billy Gilmour, will book a place at this summer’s Euros if they can beat Portugal in Porto on Tuesday.