The national football team of this miniscule but ancient republic has been notably unsuccessful, but it did achieve a certain significant record in World Cup competition -- though not in a finals match. What is the country, what is the record, and what, ultimately, was the score of the game?

robboy

I have very good memories of visiting San Marino when I was a boy living in Livorno, and still have all the stamps I religiously collected then. "Famously, in a 1993 World Cup qualifying match against England, San Marino became the record holders for the fastest goal in World Cup competition, when they took a shock first minute lead, scoring after just 8.3 seconds, before eventually succumbing 7-1" Much as I dislike relying on wiki for anything credible, it's the only one I found that provides all the criteria for the question. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino Jun 17 06, 9:14 PM

peasypod

...and I can vouch for the stamp collection---very impressive. * Jun 18 06, 6:48 AM

lanfranco

Very nice, robboy. I was watching the U.S.-Italy game yesterday and found myself wondering out loud whether San Marino had a national team of its own. Sorry to learn that wiki causes you to shudder with distaste. While it certainly does have problems, a recent blind comparison study by the British journal "Nature" (for which I have a great deal of respect) found that wiki isn't much less accurate on science than the Encyclopedia Brittanica, for whatever that's worth: http://news.com.com/Study+Wikipedia+as+accurate+as+Britannica/2100-1038_3-5997332.html Jun 18 06, 9:12 AM