They fought bravely, but:

Tears in extra time! Drama for soccer underdog

In recent years, the team had celebrated historic successes—but now they’ve slipped back to the bottom of the FIFA World Rankings.(Bild: Krone-Collage/AFP/ANDREAS SOLARO)

San Marino seemed poised to claim its first point in the new Nations League campaign against Albania—but a penalty kick in stoppage time sent the giant underdog tumbling back into the valley of tears. 

The term “underdog” probably applies to no other national team right now quite as well as it does to San Marino. In the FIFA World Rankings, they’ve slipped to 211th—and thus last place. And they’re even quite a bit behind the second-to-last team, the British Caribbean overseas territory of Anguilla.

Yet the team had achieved something historic in recent years. In the Nations League, they celebrated their first-ever competitive victory in September 2024. The 1-0 win over Liechtenstein was celebrated like a World Cup title. 

Promotion as a Reward
Two months later, the national team also celebrated its first-ever away victory in Liechtenstein. The 3–1 win was also the team’s biggest victory to date, with a two-goal margin. These historic achievements were rewarded with promotion to Nations League Group C.

There, however, the past two weeks brought a rude awakening. They suffered heavy defeats against Finland (0–7), Albania (0–3), and Belarus (0–4). So on Tuesday evening, away in Albania, everyone was initially braced for another lopsided result. 

The ball found the net for the first time after eleven minutes. Kristjan Asllani put the home team ahead, and the path to victory seemed clear—but the Albanians failed to add another goal, and suddenly the underdog was on the attack. 

Last-minute drama
In the 66th minute, Lorenzo Lazzari scored a surprising equalizer. After the goal by the player—who otherwise plays for U.S. Pietracuta in the Italian regional league—a sensation suddenly seemed possible. The underdog fought valiantly to prevent another goal and could already see stoppage time on the scoreboard.

But then came a fatal whistle! Referee Mehmet Turkmen pointed to the spot in the second minute of stoppage time—a penalty kick for Albania. Asllani coolly converted it, dealing a crushing blow to the San Marino players. A great fight went unrewarded, and another relegation to Group D is now a certainty.