San Marino vs Germany Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

San Marino won the hearts of neutrals the world over last month when their passionate celebration to scoring an equalising goal against Norway went viral. Unfortunately for them they conceded three goals in the final 15 minutes to lose the game 4-1, but that was just their second away goal since 2003.

This isn’t that surprising given the squad available to the tiny nation. None of their players are professional and just one of their team has more than one goal to his name in a San Marino shirt. They are ranked 201st in the world at the moment, with just ten teams ranked lower than them and only two of them being from Europe.

San Marino’s defeat to Norway made it 11 defeats in a row and 16 games since they won a hybrid friendly against Bellaria Igea. They have never won a competitive match though and have only avoided defeat three times competitively in their 26 year history of competing. At home they have lost five of their last six and failed to score in all six of them, conceding 15 at the other end.

This could be an absolute bloodbath if Germany are efficient. The visitors sit top of their qualifying group having comfortably beaten Norway, Czech Republic, and Northern Ireland. They have scored eight goals and conceded none in this time and have a significant bunch of extremely talented players going up against the minnows.

One in particular to watch out for is Thomas Muller. The forward has netted four goals already this campaign and has always been a threat for Germany. Backing him to score is a banker, whilst Joshua Kimmich is another option considering his excellent club record this season. Generally fielded as a holding midfielder the youngster has proven lethal when he’s played this season and has already bagged one for Germany as well.

This is more a case of how many Germany will put past them. Their previous two meetings have seen Germany win 6-0 and 13-0, so the signs aren’t overly promising for the hosts. It might not be as high scoring as the bookies odds are suggesting though.

San Marino have only seen seven or more goals in two of their 32 home matches since that 13-0 thrashing from Germany, and in none of their last nine. I think going against the grain and backing Under 6.5 Goals at odds of 1/1 could be a very good value offering. I’m going for a 5-0 win for Germany at 6/1 as well.