San Marinovs.Saint Kitts

The visitors came from behind to prevail in the first meeting at the San Marino Stadium, extending the hosts' 20-year wait for a second win in their history.

Match preview

San Marino return to action in Serravalle on Sunday with the aim of avenging a defeat to Saint Kitts and Nevis and ending a 12-match losing and a historic wait for a victory.

Indeed, April marks the 20-year anniversary of their only ever victory thus far, a friendly triumph over Liechtenstein, while they last avoided defeat in a 1-1 friendly draw with St Lucia in November 2022.

After that, La Serenissima endured a tough Euro 2024 qualifying campaign last year, failing to pick up a point from their 10 matches, although they were able to finish with valiant efforts in narrow 2-1 defeats to Denmark and Finland in the final three matches.

Aiming to finally end their dismal run on their return to action under the new management of Roberto Cevoli after Fabrizio Costantini's December departure, they welcomed Saint Kitts and Nevis to Serravalle for the first of a pair of friendlies on Wednesday and enjoyed a perfect start, going ahead inside 25 minutes through a Filippo Berardi penalty, only for their visitors to quickly draw level and take control with further goals either side of the interval.

With Sunday's repeat fixture being their final chance to stop the winless run reaching 20 years, San Marino will be desperate to return the favour and hand their visitors a defeat before returning to action in June and entering the UEFA Nations League later this year.

Their visitors, meanwhile, will bid to make it back-to-back wins in their European trip after ending their own tough run with a return to winning ways on Wednesday.

After a CONCACAF Gold Cup group-stage exit in August, Saint Kitts and Nevis travelled to Serravalle for the pair of friendlies on the back of a tough CONCACAF Nations League campaign late last year, suffering relegation from their League B group having only managed four points from their six games.

Their solitary win in that run came away at Sint Maarten, thanks to Tiquanny Williams's hat-trick, but they would lose the reverse fixture before suffering a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Guadeloupe in the final round of fixtures.

Seeking to return to winning ways at the San Marino Stadium, Austin Huggins's team succeeded in bouncing back in the first meeting and their first game of 2024 on Wednesday, despite going a goal down early on, as Tyquan Terrell quickly levelled the scores before Andre Burley put them ahead on the stroke of the interval and Harry Panayiotou doubled the lead early in the second half.

Saint Kitts and Nevis will now aim to build on that triumph and hand another defeat to their hosts to keep building confidence before heading into CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers in June.

San Marino friendly form:

L

San Marino form (all competitions):

L

L

L

L

L

L

Saint Kitts and Nevis friendly form:

W

Saint Kitts and Nevis form (all competitions):

L

W

L

D

L

W

Team News

Roberto Cevoli should deploy a similar San Marino starting XI to the one that featured against Saint Kitts and Nevis on Wednesday, with Filippo Berardi bound to again lead the line having netted his third international goal to put them ahead.

Captain and veteran Matteo Vitaioli may come in to join him from the outset after Nicola Nanni was preferred last time out, while Alessandro Golinucci and Lorenzo Capicchioni remain key figures in the midfield.

In front of stopper Edoardo Colombo, Filippo Fabbri, Marco Pasolini and Michele Cevoli should continue in a back five.

Similarly to their hosts, Austin Huggins is unlikely to make many changes to his Saint Kitts and Nevis team on Sunday, having lined the Sugar Boyz up in a 4-3-3 shape in Wednesday's game.

The line will again be led by star man Harry Panayiotou, who netted his 12 goal in his 35th international cap on Wednesday, with Tyrese Shade and Omari Sterling-James likely continuing to offer support on the wings.

Cardiff City's Romaine Sawyers was absent for the first meeting, meaning Tyquan Terrell, Raheem Somersall and Mervin Lewis could continue in the centre, while Andre Burley remains a key man in the back line and netted his first Sugar Boyz goal last time out.

San Marino possible starting lineup:

Colombo; D'Addario, Fabbri, Pasolini, Cevoli, Tosi; A Golinucci, Capicchioni, E Golinucci; Berardi, Vitaioli

Saint Kitts and Nevis possible starting lineup:

Archibald; Roberts, Freeman, Burley, Hanley; Somersall, Lewis, Terrell; Sterling-James, Panayiotou, Shade

We say: San Marino 1-3 Saint Kitts and Nevis

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