Belgium vs San Marino 11/10/19

11 October 2019

FIFA’s best-ranked nation take on the worst-ranked at the King Baudouin Stadium as Belgium look to confirm their dominance in the 2020 UEFA European Championship Qualifying (ECQ) Group I against rock-bottom San Marino.

The hosts have won each of their six ECQ games by a margin of multiple goals and seem to be on their way of securing the second successive appearance in the final continental tournament. What’s more, De Rode Duivels have scored three or more goals in all four of their previous qualifiers, keeping a clean sheet in each. A 4-0 away win in the reversed fixture has stretched Belgium’s winning streak in H2Hs to seven games, which should be further extended here. Virtually unstoppable when at home, Roberto Martinez’s men have won five successive home games in all competitions since exiting the 2018 FIFA World Cup, bagging at least two goals in each of those successes.

Meanwhile, the visitors travel to Belgium on a disastrous 33-game losing run and are unlikely to improve on their humiliating overall ECQ record (D1, L71). Nailed to the bottom of Group I, they have conceded at least four goals in five of six ECQ games and have yet to find the back of the net. Additionally, the last time San Marino managed to score in a competitive match was in September 2017 (5-1 loss to Azerbaijan), drawing a blank in 14 subsequent outings in all competitions. Just to add more pain to their misery, ‘La Serenissima’ have struggled to find the net in 34 of 36 ECQ trips, picking up zero points in the process.