- 19/06/2025
In 1993, England's World Cup qualification hopes hung by a thread. Their only hope was to inflict a crushing defeat on a team of amateurs and hope other results went their way.
But less than 9 seconds into the game, they suffered their most embarrassing moment in their history. This is the true story of that goal, as told by the man who scored it...
But less than 9 seconds into the game, they suffered their most embarrassing moment in their history. This is the true story of that goal, as told by the man who scored it...
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00:00There's no picture of the goal I scored against England in 1993. Everything happened in only
00:098.3 seconds. So fast that I surprised not just David Seaman, but all the photographers
00:14too. Our stadium in San Marino displays images of various players and goals, though none
00:19of our most famous strike. Unfortunately, all that exists is a still of television footage.
00:25Too fuzzy to be hung on a wall, but those 8.3 seconds changed my life. People still know
00:30me and that goal against England.
00:33Oh, hello everyone. Adam Muck here and this is the incredible story of David Galtieri, the
00:42man who inflicted arguably the most embarrassing moment the England national team ever, ever,
00:47ever suffered. A goal for San Marino just 8.3 seconds into the match. The tale of this goal
00:55is a fascinating one. And he's told us all about it in the latest edition of 442 Look
01:01at That, available now in all good retailers. Anyway, for the purposes of this video, though,
01:07the role of David Galtieri will be told by me, Adam Munk. Just in case you were wondering
01:13why a 52-year-old bloke from San Marino sounds like a 24-year-old lad from Stockport. Anyway,
01:19nonetheless, enjoy.
01:21In November 1993, English football was still plagued by hooliganism. Because of that, when
01:27we were scheduled to host England in the last qualifier for the 1994 World Cup, it was impossible
01:32for the match to be held at our normal home, the Stadio Olimpico di Saravelli in San Marino.
01:38Maybe 600 or 700 visitors arrived from England. Some stayed in Rimini, about 15 miles away
01:43from San Marino, and they caused quite a bit of trouble. It was all over the news for many,
01:47many days. As police units flooded in from everywhere to tackle them, that's why the
01:51match was switched to an alternative ground, to make crowd control much easier.
01:55The game was on a Wednesday evening, so on the Tuesday we travelled 65 miles north-west
02:00to Bologna, and headed straight to the Stadio Renato de Laro for our final training session.
02:06Massimo Benini was amongst our squad. He was the best player in the team. He was our point
02:10of reference on the pitch who'd always push us up the field and drive us forward. He
02:15made us feel secure. He'd played for Juventus and Bologna, so he invited two of his friends,
02:20Ivano Bonetti and Marco Di Marchi, to join us at training. They both played for Bologna
02:25as well. At the end of the session, we practised free kicks and you could see the difference
02:28between them and us. They had a pub together in the city, which we popped to afterwards.
02:33We walked around town and it was quite emotional. Everyone was looking at us in our smart San Marino
02:38tracksuits. We were a group of friends, and we'd joke with each other. Simply to play
02:42against top internationals, guys we'd normally see on TV, was already the prize for us. All
02:47we could do was give 100%. It was unthinkable to ever keep up with the major nation, so whenever
02:52possible we'd try to keep the ball and use up some minutes really. We suffered heavy defeats,
02:57no one wanted to lose, but it was inevitable. Football belongs to everyone, not only the big
03:01teams and the great players. On the night of the match against England, I was nervous.
03:06I was 22 and it was my first time in the starting 11 for the national team. It was an important
03:10game for England. They were still fighting with the Netherlands for a spot at the World
03:13Cup. England had to beat us by a 7-goal margin, and hope that the Dutch lost in Poland. When
03:19the match kicked off though, it all went so quickly. Bacchiocci to Benigni, then to Monzeroli,
03:25back to Bacchiocci, who immediately just tried to play it onto me. As I darted in from the right
03:29flank, his pass was way too powerful. But Stuart Pearce tried to tap the ball towards Seaman and
03:34it fell short, and I was there. I accepted his gift, slipping past Pearce and nudging the
03:39ball beyond Seaman, with the tip of my foot to put us one hill up. At first, I didn't
03:44really appreciate what had happened. I was pretty nippy then, a winger who could go one
03:47on one, but I never would have expected anything like that, against England, on my first start
03:52for San Marino. How can you imagine running 50 metres and then scoring like that? Ok, Usain
03:57Bolt needed 9.58 seconds to dash twice as far, but it's not quite the same thing. It wasn't
04:02until long after the final whistle, when I left our changing room, and several reporters
04:05were waiting outside for me, that I found out I'd known I'd broken a record for the
04:09fastest goal in a World Cup qualifier. Paul Ince struck in the equaliser, but that goal
04:14should have been ruled out. They'd been a clear foul beforehand. After they scored, it
04:18became harder and harder to match their intensity, and they were twice as strong as us and twice
04:22as fast. Those who represent San Marino these days are fitter than we were, we probably needed
04:27a drip feed to keep up with our rivals. I made a few tackles in that match that would've
04:31shattered any of my teammates, but I don't think England even felt a scratch.
04:35Pearce lifted me up a couple of times, as if to say, move out the way please, we're
04:39playing for real here. Luca Gabi was meant to be man marking Les
04:42Ferdinand, but despite stepping on his foot to stop him from jumping, Luca was lifted into
04:47the air when Ferdinand decided he had to leap for a header.
04:50Davide, he makes me jump with him! Luca exclaimed to me at the end of the game.
04:54We eventually lost the match 7-1, which was a pity that night. I was upset about the seven
04:58goals we conceded rather than happy about the one that I scored, but there was a giant
05:02gulf between the teams and we couldn't do much to hide it.
05:05Thankfully the Dutch did win 3-1 in Poland to progress behind Norway. If they'd slipped
05:10up and my goal had stopped England going to the World Cup, it would've created a huge
05:14fuss, even bigger than the one it did. I hope it wasn't my goal that forced Graham Taylor
05:18to step down as manager, but rather the fact that they actually missed out on qualification.
05:23As it was, my goal was somehow accepted and almost welcomed back in England. I was on the
05:27front page of the next morning's Daily Mirror, alongside the headline, End of the World.
05:33My parents had friends over in the UK and they sent me a copy. I had it framed and I still
05:37guard it jealously. I'm on Wikipedia and I've had a conversation with FIFA President
05:41Gianni Infantino who knows of my story. I became a hero in Scotland too. During qualifying
05:47for Euro 96, we were down in the same group as them. I was injured ahead of the away game
05:51so couldn't make the trip to Glasgow, but many supporters that day wore t-shirts saying,
05:568 seconds. I'd love to have got one. My teammates said the Scotland fans couldn't
06:01wait to see me play and that I was their idol because of what I'd done against England.
06:05My brother is a doctor and two years later he participated in a football tournament for
06:09European hospitals which was actually in Scotland. When people heard that he was my brother,
06:14he enjoyed free food and drinks for two days. These days, I'm a computer salesman with
06:18a small company and a shop. Things turned out well and many of my teammates from that England
06:22game are doing fine. Our goalkeeper, Pierluigi Benedettini, has a bus company. He was at the wheel in 1993.
06:29He drove from San Marino to Bologna and back. Nicola Bacchiacci has a hardware store with his brother.
06:35Mirko Giannari works in the pharmaceutical industry and Loris Zanotti has a construction company.
06:40Mauro Valentini is an accountant. Massimo Benini is an estate agent and Claudio Conti works at
06:47San Marino male. And Pierre Domenico Delaval is employed by the San Marino State Electrical Company.
06:53William Guerrera is a painter while Pier Angelo Manzaroli is the manager of a local football
06:58academy. I also coach San Giovanni, a small futsal club here. There are 30,000 people in San Marino
07:04and even now, 30 years on, everyone remembers me and my goal. I did something unique, a feat that the
07:10locals directly associate with their country. My pals and I still talk about it when we go out for dinner.
07:15They show me pictures of me 30 years ago, when I still had all my hair. They joke,
07:198 seconds? That's exactly how long you last in bed. And that that watch must have been damaged.
07:24Months ago, a few English guys living in Ramini would walk into my shop and ask to take pictures
07:29with me. A young Japanese director did a documentary on San Marino and came to gather footage.
07:33I also hosted producers and cameramen of an English TV production company based near Buckingham Palace.
07:38In 2020, a British TV channel made a series, Reuniting England Icons. It was called
07:44Harry's Heroes and they set up a few friendly matches around Europe. They played a game against
07:49Germany and another here in San Marino. Their manager, Harry Redknapp, came to my shop with
07:53John Barnes. He was as crazy as a horse. He was also a very funny guy.
07:57The show wasn't entirely about me, but I had an important role to play due to what had happened
08:02in Bologna. At the beginning of our rematch against England Legends, it was all about whether
08:06I could score again after 8 seconds. Obviously I couldn't. Matt Letissier was in their team and
08:11still an excellent player. The nicest part of it all was finally meeting David Seaman and talking
08:15to him. I'd been longing for that to happen. We drank a beer together after the game and discussed
08:20life. He's massive. Like a wardrobe. I still can't believe I scored against him. He says he loves to
08:25go fishing and he's enjoying retirement. We swapped shirts and took photos together. He was really gentle
08:31and friendly with me. However, with all due respect to him and Gibraltar, scoring against England isn't the
08:36same as doing it against them. That's the way it is though. Records were always there to be broken and one day his
08:41ball too. Especially now that you don't have kickoff by touching the ball forward. You can save up half
08:45a second really. I'm more than happy about how my career panned out. I also played against the Dutch,
08:50taking to the pitch alongside Frank Rijkaard, Frank de Boer, Mark Overmars and Dennis Bergkamp as well,
08:55who was a superstar at Inter with Aaron Winter. For the under-21s, I earned the chance to line up
09:00against Robert Prozinecki and Vladimir Djugovic, two champions from the older Yugoslavia. And then came
09:06that moment. My one amazing moment. Followed by the end of the world headliner, my chat with David
09:11Seaman many years later. To come full circle, I'd love to meet Stuart Pearce as well one day. I'm sorry
09:16that people still associate him with that mistake, but I'm not sure he cares now. We swapped shirts at
09:21the end of the match but never spoke about what happened or how we felt really. Either on that
09:25night or at any time since. We've not had the opportunity to talk again, although I'd like to.
09:30I owe him a favour. One beer. Perhaps even two or three if he wants. He'll be on me.
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