The Man Who Inflicted England's Biggest Humiliation Ever
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...
Transcript
00:00There's no picture of the goal I scored against England in 1993. Everything happened
00:08in only 8.3 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
00:30know me, and that goal, against England.
00:33Oh, hello everyone. Adam Monk here, and this is the incredible story of David Galtieri.
00:42The man 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
00:54goal is a fascinating one, and he's told us all about it in the latest edition of 442.
01:00Look at 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 Monk. Just in case you were wondering
01:13why a 52-year-old bloke from San Marino sounds like a 24-year-old lad from Stockholm. Anyway,
01:20nonetheless, 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 dell'Aro 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 made
02:15us feel secure. He'd played for Juventus and Bologna, so he invited two of his friends,
02:20Ivano Benetti 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
02:37Marino tracksuits. 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. It was already the prize for us.
02:47All we could do was give 100%. It was unthinkable to ever keep up with the major nations, so
02:52whenever possible we tried to keep the ball and use up some minutes, really. We suffered
02:56heavy defeats. No one wanted to lose, but it was inevitable. Football belongs to everyone,
03:01not only the big teams and the great players. On the night of the match against England,
03:05I was nervous. I was 22 and it was my first time in the starting 11 for the national team.
03:10It was an important game for England. They were still fighting with the Netherlands for
03:13a spot at the World Cup. England had to beat us by a 7-goal margin and hope that the Dutch
03:18lost in Poland. When the match kicked off, though, it all went so quickly. Bacchiocchi
03:22to Bernini, then to Monzaroli, back to Bacchiocchi, who immediately just tried to play it on to
03:27me. As I darted in from the right flank, his pass was way too powerful. But Stuart Pearce
03:32tried to tap the ball towards Seaman and it fell short, and I was there. I accepted his
03:37gift, slipping past Pearce and nudging the ball beyond Seaman with the tip of my foot
03:41to put us 1-0 up. At first, I didn't really appreciate what had happened. I was pretty
03:46nippy then, a winger who could go one-on-one, but I never would have expected anything like
03:50that. Against England. On my first start for San Marino. How can you imagine running 50
03:54metres and then scoring like that? Okay, Usain Bolt needed 9.58 seconds to dash twice as
03:59far but it's not quite the same thing. It wasn't until long after the final whistle
04:03when I left our changing room and several reporters were waiting outside for me that
04:07I found out I'd known I'd broken a record for the fastest goal in a World Cup qualifier.
04:12Paul Ince struck in the equaliser, but that goal should have been ruled out. They'd been
04:15a clear foul beforehand. After they scored, it became harder and harder to match their
04:19intensity and they were twice as strong as us and twice as fast. Those who represent
04:24San Marino these days are fitter than we were. We probably needed a drip feed to keep up
04:28with our rivals. I made a few tackles in that match that would have shattered any of my
04:32teammates but I don't think England even felt a scratch. Pearce lifted me up a couple
04:36of times as if to say, move out the way please, we're playing for real here.
04:40Luka Gabi was meant to be man marking Les Ferdinand but despite stepping on his foot
04:44to stop him from jumping, Luka was lifted into the air when Ferdinand decided he had
04:49to leap for a header. Davide, he makes me jump with him, Luka exclaimed to me at the
04:53end of the game. We eventually lost the match 7-1 which was a pity that night. I was upset
04:57about the 7 goals we conceded rather than happy about the one that I scored. But there
05:02was a giant gulf 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 have 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
05:27the front page of the next morning's Daily Mirror alongside the headline,
05:31END OF THE WORLD. My parents had friends over in the UK and they sent me a copy.
05:35I had it framed and I still guard it jealously. I'm on Wikipedia and I've had a conversation
05:40with FIFA president Gianni Infantino who knows of my story. I became a hero in Scotland too.
05:46During qualifying for Euro 96, we were down in the same group as them. I was injured ahead
05:51of the away game so couldn't make the trip to Glasgow but many supporters that day wore
05:54t-shirts saying, GALTIERI, 8 seconds. I'd love to have got one. My teammates said the
06:00Scotland fans couldn't wait to see me play and that I was their idol because of what I'd done
06:04against England. My brother is a doctor and two years later he participated in a football
06:09tournament for European Hospitals, which was actually in Scotland. When people heard that
06:13he was my brother, he enjoyed free food and drinks for two days. These days I'm a computer
06:18salesman with a small company and a shop. Things turned out well and many of my teammates from
06:22that England game are doing fine. Our goalkeeper, Pierluigi Benedettini, has a bus company. He was
06:28at the wheel in 1993. He drove from San Marino to Bologna and back. Nicola Bacchiacci has a hardware
06:34store with his brother. Mirko Giannari works in the pharmaceutical industry and Loris Zanotti
06:39has a construction company. Mauro Valentini is an accountant. Massimo Benini is an estate agent
06:45and Claudio Conti works at San Marino Mail. And Pierre Domenico Della Valle is employed by the
06:51San Marino State Electrical Company. William Guerrero is a painter, while Pierangelo Manzaroli
06:57is the manager of a local football academy. I also coach San Giovanni, a small futsal club here.
07:02There are 30,000 people in San Marino and even now, 30 years on, everyone remembers me and my goal.
07:08I did something unique, a feat that the locals directly associate with their country. My pals
07:13and I still talk about it when we go out for dinner. They show me pictures of me 30 years ago
07:17when I still had all my hair. They joke, eight seconds, that's exactly how long you last in bed
07:22and that that watch must have been damaged. Months ago, a few English guys living in Romini would
07:27walk into my shop and ask to take pictures with me. A young Japanese director did a documentary
07:31on San Marino and came to gather footage. I also hosted producers and cameramen of an English TV
07:36production company based near Buckingham Palace. In 2020, a British TV channel made a series
07:42reuniting England icons. It was called Harry's Heroes and they set up a few friendly matches
07:47around Europe. They played a game against Germany and another here in San Marino. Their manager,
07:51Harry Redknapp, came to my shop with John Barnes, who was as crazy as a horse. He was also a very
07:56funny guy. The show wasn't entirely about me, but I had an important role to play due to what had
08:01happened in Bologna. At the beginning of our rematch against England legends, it was all about
08:06whether I could score again after eight seconds. Obviously, I couldn't. Matt Letizia was in their
08:11team and still an excellent player. The nicest part of it all was finally meeting David Seaman
08:15and talking to him. I'd been longing for that to happen. We drank a beer together after the game
08:19and discussed life. He's massive, like a wardrobe. I still can't believe I scored against him. He
08:25says he loves to go fishing and he's enjoying retirement. We swapped shirts and took photos
08:29together. He was really gentle and friendly with me. However, with all due respect to him and
08:34Gibraltar, scoring against England isn't the same as doing it against them. That's the way it is
08:38though. Records were always there to be broken and one day his record will fall too. Especially now
08:42that you don't have kickoff by touching the ball forward, you can save up half a second really.
08:46I'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 Overmaars and Dennis Bergkamp
08:55as well, who was a superstar at Inter with Aaron Winter. For the under-21s, I earned the chance to
09:00line up against Robert Prozinecki and Vladimir Djugovic, two champions from the old Yugoslavia.
09:06And then came that moment, my one amazing moment, followed by the end of the world
09:10headline and my chat with David Seaman many years later. To come full circle, I'd love to
09:14meet Stuart Pearce as well one day. I'm sorry that people still associate him with that mistake,
09:18but I'm not sure he cares now. We swapped shirts at the end of the match but never spoke about
09:22what happened or how we felt really, either on that night or at any time since. We've not had
09:27the opportunity to talk again, although I'd like to. I owe him a favour. One beer, perhaps even
09:32two or three if he wants. They'll be on me.