San Marino close out in Romania, Vitaioli targets triple figures

The San Marino National Team are in Ploiești, a city north of Bucharest where tomorrow – from 20:45 CET – around 11,000 home fans will try to roar Lucescu’s Tricolor to victory in the final act of the group. Romania will take part in the FIFA World Cup 2026 play-offs thanks to winning their UEFA Nations League group: second place, in fact, is already secured by Bosnia and Herzegovina, who are even dreaming of a big result away to Austria to book their ticket to North America without having to go through the play-offs. For San Marino, by contrast, the dream is now out of reach given the results in the other sections – not least that of their next opponents.

Roberto Cevoli and Matteo Vitaioli spoke in the pre-match press conference, looking ahead to tomorrow’s fixture. “I’m expecting a tough match in every area of the pitch, against a very strong side. I hope we’ll be able to reproduce the very good performance we produced in Czechia.” Asked by local media who, in his view, most deserves direct qualification for the World Cup, Cevoli was clear: “I think Austria have players of greater quality and a more complete team than Bosnia and Herzegovina. That said, in a match like this anything can happen – after all, Romania’s recent defeat was anything but deserved given what Lucescu’s team created.” Drawing on his extensive international experience, the San Marino captain outlined the dangers and opportunities inherent in the upcoming clash with Romania. “Tomorrow’s game hides several pitfalls, even though everything has already been decided for both sides. Coming off a defeat, they will be keen to make up for the match in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to put on a strong display for their fans. We come into it after a good performance in Czechia and we want to be ready, aiming to repeat the positive things we showed – especially in the second half – in Karviná. On a personal level – concluded Vitaioli – we’ll see tomorrow whether I’ll have the chance to contribute to this team for the hundredth time in my career. It’s a milestone I care about a great deal, but for me the important thing will always be to help my team-mates – regardless of the number of caps I end up on.”