Under-21 National Team back on the scoresheet through debutant Ciacci, but Turkey still win at the Stadium

In November it would have been seven years since the last goal scored by the Under-21 National Team in an official match. That drought was finally ended by a debutant, Mattia Ciacci, whose name echoed several times over the Stadium loudspeakers, in the 16th minute of the clash with Turkey, accompanied by the enthusiastic roars of the fans in the stands. A defender by trade, Mattia, but a centre-forward for one night. As mentioned, one of coach Cecchetti’s changes compared to the Italy match was precisely Ciacci’s presence at the heart of the defence, where on Thursday Matteoni had been playing, but was suspended today. The other change was Casadei in for Giocondi, who had flown to Moldova with the senior National Team. On the right flank was Guidi, while Tomassini dropped back again into defence. The 2006-born Riccardi was confirmed on the left. On the bench, among others, was Pierini, enjoying his first official call-up. Despite a table that no longer had anything concrete to offer them, Turkey showed from the outset that they meant business. After 4 minutes Amici had to pull off a stunning save on Akman’s close-range flick, set up in the six-yard box by Çanak. The Turkish press produced a highly controversial penalty on 7 minutes: Önal wrong-footed Guidi with a feint and then, in practice, threw himself onto the San Marino defender, who was already going to ground. As the saying goes, Guidi couldn’t just vanish into thin air, but for the referee the contact was a foul. From the spot Elmaz opened the scoring, sending Amici the wrong way. The 2-0 arrived on 14 minutes from the boot of the same Elmaz: Önal was released in behind, cut inside and cleverly laid the ball back to the no. 10, who struck powerfully from the edge of the box and found the gap to beat Amici again. At that point San Marino changed face. Their quick reaction up the pitch earned the Titans a free kick from three-quarters, wide on the left. Santi swung the ball into the box, Bilgin failed to clear properly and Guidi teed up a chance for Mattia Ciacci, who made no mistake: the ball flew into the net (the same one Sensoli had hit last Thursday against Liechtenstein) and San Marino’s Under-21s were finally celebrating a goal again in an official match – something that had been missing since Czech Republic v San Marino (goal by Alessandro D’Addario) on 11 November 2017. At home, they had not celebrated since November 2015. The moment had a huge impact on the morale of the Titans, who less than a minute later were back up the pitch again, this time protesting for a suspicious contact between Baltaci and Toccaceli right on the edge of the box: the referee waved play on. Özcan’s left-footed effort, which went not far wide of the near post, did nothing to dampen the fire of Cecchetti’s boys, who fought like lions for every ball and threatened again from a set piece. Santi’s floated delivery towards the back post was cleared by Yildiz straight to the feet of Marco Gasperoni, who found himself with almost a penalty in open play but shot too centrally, allowing Bilgin to save. In any case, the hosts did not spend long dwelling on it. Within a few minutes, Gasperoni laid the ball off for Toccaceli, who from a good position failed to hit the target. A visibly stunned Turkey, in this phase, could only respond with a hopeful long-range effort from Ince that flew well over the bar. Just after the half-hour, however, came the incident that revived the visitors. Guidi mistimed his challenge on Ince and this time the penalty was undeniable. Turkey changed taker – Burcu – but got the same result: the ball in the net (despite Amici guessing correctly) and the two-goal cushion restored. That goal too shifted the momentum of the contest. Within a few minutes Amici had to produce two top-class saves in the same move to prevent the scoreline changing again: first on Ince’s placed left-foot shot and then on Çanak’s wicked driven cross-shot. Still, the visitors found their fourth goal shortly afterwards through Çanak’s close-range finish after a moment of brilliance from Elmaz, who opted for a delicate chip to put his team-mate in the perfect position to beat Amici. Turkey then went close twice more to a fifth (Burcu missed the target on Yildiz’s powerful cross and Amici denied Önal one-on-one), but got it just as the fourth official was announcing the added time: Önal exploited a ricochet to spring away from the defence and then squared for Ince to tap into an empty net; his team-mate obliged and at the break the scoreboard showed a harsh-looking 5-1. Even that, however, did not satisfy Turkey. Sürme’s side kept the pressure high after the restart, trying their luck from distance first with Altıkardeş (right-foot shot off target) and then with Ince, who wrong-footed Amici with the unwitting help of Ciacci, caught in the path of the shot: only a matter of centimetres spared the home side further punishment. Amici then really had to intervene, diving low to his right to turn away Çanak’s precise left-footer after a one-two with Akman: the keeper flung himself to his right and scraped the ball away off the post. Another deflection off Ciacci on 68 minutes, this time on an Elmaz free kick, forced Amici into another save, though a more routine one than the previous effort. Overall, Turkey were relentless in their pressure but not particularly ruthless. Things changed decisively in the 73rd minute, when Akman crashed a thunderous shot off the crossbar from the heart of the box and then, from the continuation of the same move, Önal drilled a low shot against the post. Matteo Cecchetti sent on Simone Gasperoni, Pasolini, Cervellini and Chiaruzzi. San Marino, though, no longer had the legs to push back upfield. Their defensive shape remained good, until a new destabilising incident materialised. In the 80th minute, Amici called for the ball but Ortakaya went into the challenge anyway, clattering into the San Marino goalkeeper for no reason. Amici showed a hint of a reaction which the referee decided to punish with a straight red card, while the Turkish defender got away with only a yellow. Up to that moment everything had been ready for the introduction – and debut – of Federico Amici, but Cecchetti had to rip up his plans on the spot. Borasco came on (also making his debut) for an exhausted Mattia Sancisi. And San Marino had to see out the game with ten men. The newcomer immediately caught the eye with a fine diving save from Ince’s free kick on the edge of the box. Shortly afterwards, Ince slipped a pass through for Akman, who having started from a suspicious position dragged his diagonal effort too far wide. As the five minutes of added time were beginning, Turkey broke San Marino’s second-half clean sheet through Ortakaya, who rose to meet Çanak’s corner and powered his header in off the underside of the bar. Before the final whistle there was still time for another Borasco save, this time from Akman, and for a Güreler header from a corner that sailed over. It finished with a scoreline whose right-hand digit felt far too harsh on the Biancoazzurrini, even if Turkey had shown great quality. On the left-hand side, though, it told of enterprise and courage with deep roots, which all too often in the past, by a matter of centimetres or fractions of a second, had failed to receive any tangible reward. Tonight was different. And those moments must be cherished as they look ahead to the last fixture of this qualifying campaign, just over a month away. Once again it will be the Stadium, on 15 October, to host the clash between the young Titans and Latvia.

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Under-21, Euro 2025 qualifying | San Marino – Turkey 1-6   SAN MARINO Amici; Tomassini, M. Ciacci, M. Sancisi (from 83' Borasco); Guidi (from 61' S. Gasperoni), N. Sancisi (from 76' Chiaruzzi), Toccaceli (from 61' Cervellini), Casadei, Riccardi (from 76' Pasolini); Santi, M. Gasperoni Substitutes: Terenzi, Giambalvo, Pierini, F. Ciacci Coach: Matteo Cecchetti   TURKEY Bilgin; Yildiz, Baltaci (from 65' Yaşar), Altıkardeş (from 65' Güreler), Özcan (from 46' Terzi); Çanak, Elmaz, Burcu (from 65' Ortakaya); Ince, Akman, Önal (from 83' Altunbaş) Substitutes: Dilmen, Yilmaz, Yaşar, Konak, Saatçı Coach: Levent Arca Sürme Referee: Matthew De Gabriele (MLT) Assistant Referees: Jurgen Spiteri (MLT), Shaun Calleja (MLT) Fourth Official: Daniel Casha (MLT) Booked: M. Ciacci, Burcu, Akman, Ortakaya Sent off: Amici (straight red) Scorers: 8' (pen.) and 14' Elmaz, 16' M. Ciacci, 33' pen. Burcu, 36' Çanak, 45' Ince, 90+1' Ortakaya

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