Italy vs San Marino: Preview & Prediction
It is the first of a series of three games that the team led by Giampiero Ventura will do on the last date for international friendly matches and qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, reserved by FIFA (International Football Federation). The Italians will make a friendly again, this time against the strong Uruguayan team, and will end the period against Licechtenstein, already in the European qualifiers.
Ventura must take advantage of the rival’s fragility to promote experiences. One of them involves a Brazilian. Defender Emerson Palmieri of Rome took over Italian citizenship and was called up for the first time.
Italy defend an undefeated series of seven matches. There were five wins and two draws in the period. In the Qualifiers, it divides the leadership of group G with Spain with 13 points (four victories and one tie). When you use the tiebreaker criteria, you lose in the goal balance getting second. The Spaniards have a balance of 17 against nine.
Only the first-place finisher will have his place in the Russian World Cup. Whoever finishes second, as long as it is not the worst among the nine teams that remain in this situation, can play the recapture.
The complete list of participants is:
Goalkeepers: Pierluigi Gollini (Atalanta), Simone Scuffet (Udinese)
Defender: Cristiano Biraghi (Pescara), Davide Calabria (Milan), Mattia Caldara (Atalanta), Federico Ceccherini (Crotone), Andrea Conti (Atalanta), Emerson Palmieri dos Santos (Roma), Alex Ferrari Crotone)
Socks: Daniele Baselli (Torino), Danilo Cataldi (Genoa), Roberto Gagliardini (Inter), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Sassuolo)
Attackers: Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Chiesa (Fiorentina), Matteo Politano (Sassuolo), Simone Verdi (Bologna), Diego Falcinelli (Crotone), Roberto Inglese (Chievo), Gianluca Lapadula
The current form of San Marino
A 1-0 win against Licechtenstein in a friendly match was San Marino’s latest success. This happened on April 28, 2004. Since then, in those more than 13 years, the team has collected defeats. There have been 76 failures that do not complete a sequence because they were interrupted by a 0-0 draw against Estonia in 2014 in qualifying for Euro 2016.
Taking that equality as a point of departure, there were 15 defeats in a row having conceded 63 goals and scored just two. In the European qualifiers, without scoring, San Marino occupies the sixth place in group C, which has Germany as the leader (15 points) with a goal scored and 23 suffered.
Italy vs San Marino: Betting Tips
It was only two meetings between Italy and San Marino throughout history. Both friendly ended with Italians winning 4-0. The first one happened in 1992 and the other in 2013.
Italy vs San Marino: Direct Matches
Over 4,5 goals – Odds: 1.70
Over 5,5 goals – Odds: 2.50
