San Marino suffers a shooting spree in Austria: 10-0

San Marino, in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, comes to a historic and important facility such as the Ernst Happel Stadion, the scene of Austria’s most important matches. Which takes the rivals by storm: 10-0.

The hosts got the message and got off to a flying start: in the same minute Sabitzer unleashed his left-footed shot from the edge of the box, clattering onto the outside base of the post. San Marino does not stand idly by and retaliates with an attack on the depth of Nanni, who snaps into a regular position behind Alaba – but has to deal with the quickness of Danso, who contains him. Two minutes later, Austria squares a painful one-two: Schmid unlocks the result with a return cross from the vertex that – after hitting the ground – goes into the box without deflection. On 8 minutes, however, it was the eagerly awaited Arnautović who framed the double, at the end of a quick restart. Three minutes later the Titans showed up: cross from the outside by Tosi for Contadini’s insertion, inches away from the winning deflection under port. Shortly thereafter, the hosts slipped a third time through Columbus’ goal with Gregoritsch – but VAR intervened to detect a pinpoint offside that invalidated the goal.

Just after the quarter-hour mark Posch chews with his right in the middle of the penalty area. The Como flanker is again well positioned in the 20th minute, coordinating poorly, however, on Prass’s through ball. Cevoli’s boys do not give up attacking and at the half restarted four-on-four, entrusting the ball to Berardi who aimed and skipped past Danso. His cross from the short side of the area is deflected by the same Tottenham central into a corner kick – repelled by the defense. On the opposite side he is decidedly more decisive in assisting Posch, who pops up behind Tosi and crosses into the center where Gregoritsch slots the 3-0 under the goal.

It is half an hour when the VAR is called in again: this time to certify the regularity of Posch’s goal, which was initially disallowed by the assistant. From there Schmid strokes the top face of the crossbar before cashing in on Berardi’s back-handed intervention that earned the San Marino man a caution. The forward was not among the eight cautioned players summoned by Cevoli for this match. Instead, Posch returned to the scoreboard, lurking at the second post on Danso’s deflected corner. Austria continued to set a furious pace in the match, even finding the 6-0 lead with Laimer at the end of a great vertical action. Moments before the double whistle, Nanni broke free in the center of the box on Lazzari’s cross: his zuccata had the right strength, but was not angled enough to surprise Pentz.

The ball was not quite there.

Starting the second half there is Valli Casadei for Lazzari, but also Arnautović’s brace – scoring underhand after 90″ on Schimid’s perfect assist. Two minutes later Austria was awarded a very generous penalty kick on the Prass-Contadini contact: VAR calls Frid to on-field review, which causes the match director to retrace his steps.

The game resumed.

At the resumption of play, San Marino produced a splendid vertical action that led to a free kick from the three-quarter: Capicchioni went to the center of the box, where the ball splashed onto Berardi’s left-footed shot that went high by a whisker. Same players a minute later, when the San Marino man’s diagonal shot is deflected into the corner by Danso. In the 57th minute Zannoni also got to the shot, without finding the goal with a right-footed shot from just inside

the area. On the opposite side Colombo is monumental in denying a made goal to Gregoritsch. On the hour mark it was Matteoni’s turn to collect compliments from his teammates for a closing tackle on Laimer, who was anticipating an encore. Midway through the second half there is room for Mularoni and Vitaioli: the latter returns to play with the national team jersey eleven months after the last time, registering presence number 98. A little later, Cevoli also inserted Gabriel Capicchioni on the field.

In the meantime, Austria moved the scoreboard again with newcomer Wurmbrand, making his FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualification debut with a slick shot from the edge of the box. It was running 78 minutes, however, when a super Colombo won a duel with Arnautović, who came close to hitting a right-footed shot from close range. Next to save San Marino’s pota was Laimer, who was hit in the back by Grillitsch’s right-footed shot.

In the 81st minute, Cevoli’s last substitution is worth the appointment with history: in fact, Sammaritani’s entry on the field marks the record for earliest debut in the biancazzurro. With 16 years, 4 months and 2 days. Unfortunately for the biancazzurri, it is also a record night for Austria, which finds in Arnautović’s double the widest victory in its history and the best bomber ever (45).