England v San Marino background

England's past record against their UEFA EURO qualifying Group E opponents offers little hope for San Marino, though the visitors will remember their only previous goal against their opponents with some fondness.

Match background
• England's record in four games against San Marino is W4 D0 L0 (W2 D0 L0 at home, W2 D0 L0 away). England have scored 26 goals in those games (an average of 6.5 per match), conceding just once.

• That goal was a very famous one indeed, Davide Gualtieri striking 8.3 seconds into a FIFA World Cup qualifier, staged in Bologna on 17 November 1993; it remains the fastest goal in the history of the competition, in qualifying or a final tournament. It was the striker's only international goal in nine appearances for San Marino.

• The sides' first encounters were in 1994 World Cup qualifying. Giorgio Leoni's San Marino got no change out of Graham Taylor's England at Wembley on 17 February 1993, David Platt scoring four times (13, 24, 67 and 83) while Carlton Palmer (78) and Les Ferdinand (86) got one each in a 6-0 victory.

• Gualtieri opened the scoring inside nine seconds of the return fixture but England responded through Ian Wright (34, 46, 78 and 90), Paul Ince (22 and 73) and Ferdinand (38) for a 7-1 win. It was the final game in the section, with England's win not enough to take them to the finals in the United States.

• The sides' meetings in 2014 World Cup qualifying were notably less stressful for England. On 12 October 2012, Roy Hodgson's side beat Giampaolo Mazza's San Marino 5-0, Wayne Rooney (35 and 70), Danny Welbeck (37 and 72) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (77) the scorers. It was Oxlade-Chamberlain's first international goal.

• The return fixture in Serravalle on 23 March 2013 was an 8-0 away win. An Alessandro Della Valle own goal (12) set England on their way and Oxlade-Chamberlain (29), Jermain Defoe (35 and 77), Ashley Young (39), Frank Lampard (42), Rooney (54) and Daniel Sturridge (70), with his first international goal, completed the win.

• San Marino opened their Group E campaign with a 2-0 home defeat by Lithuania, their 57th loss in 57 attempts in UEFA European Championship qualifying. England, 20 matches unbeaten in qualifying for major tournaments, kicked off with a 2-0 win in Switzerland.

• The nations' five meetings in UEFA age-group tournaments have been similarly one sided; England have won all five fixtures with an aggregate score of 32-0.

• San Marino can take some encouragement from their national futsal team, who recorded the best Sammarinese result against an England side in FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifying, losing 5-3 in a preliminary round match staged in Latvia.