AUSTRIA thumped bottom ranked San Marino 10-0 last night in their Group H World Cup qualifier.
Although the outcome of this match wasn’t a real shock (despite the ten goals), something else happened that could go down in football history.
Every single outfield player in Austria’s starting XI recorded at least one goal contribution, which is a first in professional football. Even though we are used to seeing 210th ranked San Marino on the receiving end of heavy scorelines, this incredible stat may never be repeated and should be described as a ‘phenomenon’.
Adding on to the historic event last night, another piece of history was recorded within the Austrian ranks. Star man Marko Arnautovic netted an impressive four goals, breaking Austria’s all-time goalscoring record in the process, overtaking previous record holder Toni Polster with 45 goals. The striker has now amassed 128 caps in his career, and will go down as one of the Austrian greats.
Despite the craze of this record breaking night, there have been questions asked about the smaller nations taking part in these qualifiers. Every year we see these type of results with larger nations comfortably beating these smaller teams who have little to no chance of qualifying for major tournaments. Many people have called for them to be removed from qualifiers solely down to entertainment purposes as well as risks of injury for bigger players.
Is there a need for a change to the format, or is it fine as it is?
