WEDNESDAY 13 OCTOBER 2004 - THE GREATEST DAY IN ANDORRAN FOOTBALL'S HISTORY

There were lots of moans and groans from England fans over the National team's dismal performance at Euro 2016. I was one of the those fans I have to say so to get a reality check I thought I would take a look at some of UEFA and FIFA's worst ranked teams to see that it could be much worse for us and to promote the lesser known Countries who some people think don't even deserve their place on the International stage.   

Jesús Luis Álvarez de Eulate Güergue who is also known as 'Koldo' is one of Andorran football's most decorated players having won 78 International Caps as a goalkeeper. England fans will remember him from his last International match which was a 6-0 defeat against The Three Lions in a 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifier in June 2009 - He received a standing ovation from both sets of fans when substituted in injury time after being one of the best players on the pitch. In February 2010 he was appointed Manager taking over from the departing David Rodrigo Lo who had been in place since 1998.

Only Liechtenstein, San Marino, Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands are smaller UEFA countries - their first official game was a 6-1 defeat in a friendly against Estonia in 1996. Their only competitive win came in a World Cup Qualifying Round game on Wednesday 13th October 2004 against Macedonia which ended 1-0. Marc Bernaus Cano (who came through Barcelona's famous academy and played for their 'B' team in the 1990s) wrote himself into the history books scoring the only goal of the game. He played 32 times for his country between 2010 and 2013.

Andorra showed some promise in their first World Cup Qualifier on Tuesday in losing 0-1 to Latvia - they hit the post and forced a great save in the closing stages. Of the eighteen man squad selected for this game twelve play in the Andorran league, five in the lower divisions of the Spanish League and Marc Vales Gonzalez who plays in the top tier of Finnish football for 'Seinajoen Jalkapallokerho'. They are currently above Euro 2016 Champion's Portugal on Goal Difference in Group B following their  2-0 defeat to Switzerland. They play the Euro 2016 Champions in their next game on Friday 7th October before a home game with Switzerland on Monday 10th October. 

On Saturday 25th March they face the Faroe Islands who were celebrating after their 0-0 draw with Hungary in the recent round of Qualifying Games. The two games between the two countries played in 2017 will be a chance for them to get some more points on the board. 

FACTS AND FIGURES 
MOST CAPS - Oscar Sonejee - 106 caps 
MOST GOALS -  Ildefons Lima Sola - 10 goals (101 caps) 
The above two players are the only ones to reach 100 + caps for Andorra. 
NATIONAL STADIUM - Estadi Nacional capacity 3,306 (record crowd was verus Wales in September 2014 when 3,150 saw the game) 
BIGGEST WIN - Both 2-0 against Belarus and Albania in friendly games in 2000 and 2002 which were there only other victories aside from the famous Macedonia win.
BIGGEST DEFEAT - 1-8 versus Czech Republic on Saturday 4th June 2005
CURRENT FIFA RATING - 203 (only British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Bahamas, Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia and Tonga are lower rated) 
       
ANDORRA'S LAST FIVE RESULTS 
12th November 2015 - ST KITTS & NEVIS Lost 0-1 Friendly 
28th March 2016 - MOLDOVA Lost 0-1 Friendly 
26th May 2016 - Azerbajain - Drew 0-0 Friendly 
1st June 2016 - Estonia - Lost 0-2 Friendly 
6th September 2016 - LATVIA - Lost 0-1 WCQ 
 

ANDORRA'S NEXT FIVE FIXTURES
All World Cup Group B qualifiers
Friday 7th October - Portugal 
Monday 10th October - SWITZERLAND 
Sunday 13th November - Hungary 
Saturday 25th March - FAROE ISLANDS 
Friday 9th June - HUNGARY 
    
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING RECORD
since entering for the 2002 competition

P	W	D	L	GF	GA	PTS
42	1	2	39	12	139	5

UEFA QUALIFYING RECORD
since entering for the 2000 competition

P	W	D	L	GF	GA	PTS
50	0	0	50	11	149	0