Kazakhstan 3-1 San Marino: Visitors score in back-to-back games for first time in 18 years
- Published
Simone Franciosi scored his first international goal in San Marino's 3-1 defeat by Kazakhstan
San Marino scoring a goal used to be such a big deal that an England manager once thought he was cursed when he watched his team concede to the minnows.
Now it seems they simply can't stop finding the net.
After ending their two-year goal drought in a credible 2-1 home defeat by Denmark in October, they've now done the unthinkable and scored again, in a 3-1 loss to Kazakhstan.
It is the first time since 2005 that San Marino have scored in successive competitive games.
Trailing 2-0 to Kazakhstan and in search of a way back into the game, Simone Franciosi bundled in from close range to give the visitors hope.
But Abat Aymbetov's stoppage-time penalty ultimately condemned San Marino to another loss, leaving them 207th and last in Fifa's world rankings.
It also means they are still yet to win a competitive game with their only victory a 1-0 success against Liechtenstein in a friendly in 2004.
San Marino have lost 84 of their 85 Euro qualifiers, with the only exception a goalless draw with Estonia in 2014.
They host Finland in their final Euro 2004 qualifier on Monday.