Rooney fluffs his lines as San Marino keeper prevents a rout

Aldo Simoncini stars at Wembley as minnows keep it respectable against England

Wayne Rooney during march between England and San Marino
(Image credit: Shaun Botterill/Getty)

England 5 San Marino 0. So a good result for San Marino, then. The microstate ranked bottom of Fifa's 208 nations avoided a cricket score in their Euro 16 qualifier and leaked only five against England. In comparison to the 13-0 scoreline inflicted upon them by Germany in a Euro 2008 qualifier, 5-0 has an air of respectability about it.

But it was still a defeat, their 60th straight loss (the only triumph in San Marino's history was a friendly win against Liechtenstein in 2004) and once again raises the validity of allowing them – along with Andorra and Gibraltar – to compete in the top tier of international football.

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Bill Mann is a football correspondent for The Week.co.uk, scouring the world's football press daily for the popular Transfer Talk column.