Hungary vs San Marino

Hungary and San Marino will lock horns at the Puskas Arena in a seemingly routine World Cup qualifying task for the home team.

Barring a once-in-a-lifetime miracle, Hungary will fail to qualify for their first World Cup finals since 1986. A run of two consecutive qualifying matches without a win (D1, L1) left them six points adrift of second-placed Poland, taking their qualification hopes away from their control. San Marino’s visit should at least enable Hungary to give their fans some joy following an underwhelming World Cup qualifying campaign on home turf so far (W1, D1, L2). The Hungarians have won all five historical matches against San Marino by 3+ goals ‘to nil,’ including a 3-0 victory in the reverse fixture in March. That triumph also yielded Hungary’s solitary clean sheet in eight 2020 World Cup qualifying games to date, further underlining their sub-par form in the ongoing cycle.

As for San Marino, eight defeats from eight World Cup qualifying fixtures accompanied by a horrendous -31 goal difference have seen them fulfill the status of FIFA’s worst-ranked nation. Though they are unlikely to improve their record of 72 losses from 74 World Cup qualifiers in the last two rounds, San Marino could still make the nation’s history. Having conceded 32 goals in the ongoing World Cup qualifying cycle, they could register their best defensive tally across a single qualifying campaign that currently stands at 40. However, ‘La Serenissima’ have conceded 4+ goals in four of their six international travels in 2021, which indicates that feat could be hard to achieve. In fact, barring a 2-0 defeat to Andorra in September, San Marino have lost their remaining three away World Cup qualifiers this calendar year by the same 5-0 scoreline.