William Marino Guerra (born 24 February 1968) is a former footballer who played international football for San Marino as a defender. After graduating from the country's youth set-up, he made forty appearances for the San Marino national football team, two in 1987 before the country was affiliated to FIFA and thirty-eight FIFA-sanctioned games between 1990 and 1999, making him the nation's tenth most-capped player of all time. Guerra also captained San Marino on five occasions between 1995 and 1997. He split a 16-year club career between teams from Italy and San Marino.

William Guerra
Personal information
Full name William Marino Guerra
Date of birth (1968-02-24) 24 February 1968 (age 56)
Place of birth Detroit, Michigan, United States
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1987–88 ASD Tropical Coriano
1990–1993 Real Montecchio
1993–1995 San Marino Calcio
1995–1996 Juvenes/Dogana 17 (0)
1996–1997 San Marino Calcio
1997–1999 Juvenes/Dogana
2000–2004 Pennarossa Chiesanuova
International career
1987–1999 San Marino 40 (0)
1989 San Marino under-21 4 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

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Guerra began his career in 1987, aged nineteen, with ASD Tropical Coriano in Italy. In 1990–91 he moved to fellow Italian club Real Montecchio. There he spent three seasons, leaving the club in 1993 to join San Marino Calcio, a club based in Serravalle, San Marino, but playing in the Italian divisions. After two league campaigns at San Marino, the defender joined Juvenes/Dogana in 1994–1995.[1] He made seventeen appearances in his first season at Juvenes/Dogana, but then left to resign for San Marino Calcio at the end of the season. After spending 1995–96 at San Marino, Guerra rejoined Juvenes/Dogana, where he remained until the end of the 1998–99. In 2000–01 he transferred to Pennarossa Chiesanuova, another San Marino club. Guerra saw out the rest of his career with Pennarossa, retiring in 2004 at the age of 36.

International career

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Under-21

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Unusually, Guerra appeared for San Marino's senior team before making his under-21 debut. The defender played his first game for the youth team in a 5–0 loss to Switzerland on 6 June 1989 in a 1990 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualifier; Guerra featured in all four of San Marino's games in the tournament.[2] His last appearance for the under-21s came in a 2–0 loss to Italy on 29 November 1989.[3]

Senior team

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Guerra made his unofficial debut for San Marino while playing for ASD Tropical Coriano in a 1987 Mediterranean Games 0–0 draw with Lebanon on 16 September. His official debut came in a FIFA-sanctioned 4–0 loss to Switzerland in a Euro 1992 qualifier on 13 November 1990. Guerra went on to represent San Marino in qualifiers for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 1996, 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000. He captained his country for the first time in the 7–0 home loss to Russia on 7 June 1995. He was also captain in the games against Greece, in September, and the Faroe Islands in October. Guerra then had to wait until October 1996 to regain the armband, when San Marino played Belgium. Guerra's final game as captain came in a 6–0 loss to Belgium in June 1997.[4]

His last game for San Marino was the 9–0 loss to Spain in a UEFA Euro 2000 qualifier on 4 June 1999. Of Guerra's 40 international appearances, San Marino failed to win any and drew just two.[5]

Cap Date Venue Opponent Result Competition
1 16 September 1987 Aleppo International Stadium, Aleppo, Syria   Lebanon D 0-0 1987 Mediterranean Games
2 20 September 1987 Aleppo International Stadium, Aleppo, Syria   Turkey L 4-0 1987 Mediterranean Games
3 14 November 1990 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino    Switzerland L 4-0 UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying
4 5 December 1990 Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania   Romania L 6-0 UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying
5 27 March 1991 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Romania L 3-1 UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying
6 1 May 1991 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Scotland L 2-0 UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying
7 22 May 1991 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Bulgaria L 3-0 UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying
8 5 June 1991 Espenmoos, St Gallen, Switzerland    Switzerland L 7-0 UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying
9 16 October 1991 Balgarska Armia Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria   Bulgaria L 4-0 UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying
10 13 November 1991 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland   Scotland L 4-0 UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying
11 19 February 1992 Stadio Dino Manuzzi, Cesena, Italy   Italy L 4-0 Friendly
12 9 September 1992 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway   Norway L 10-0 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
13 7 October 1992 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Norway L 2-0 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
14 28 October 1992 Ankara, Turkey   Turkey L 4-1 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
15 17 February 1993 Wembley Stadium, London, England   England L 6-0 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
16 10 March 1993 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Turkey D 0-0 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
17 24 March 1993 Stadion Galgenwaard, Utrecht, Netherlands   Netherlands L 6-0 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
18 17 November 1993 Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna, Italy   Italy L 7-1 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
19 12 October 1994 Luzhniki Stadium Moscow, Russia   Russia L 4-0 UEFA Euro 1996 qualification
20 16 November 1994 Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece   Greece L 2-0 UEFA Euro 1996 qualification
21 14 December 1994 Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland   Finland L 2-0 UEFA Euro 1996 qualification
22 29 March 1995 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Finland L 2-0 UEFA Euro 1996 qualification
23 26 April 1995 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Scotland L 2-0 UEFA Euro 1996 qualification
24 7 June 1995 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Russia L 7-0 UEFA Euro 1996 qualification
25 6 September 1995 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Greece L 4-0 UEFA Euro 1996 qualification
26 11 October 1995 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Faroe Islands L 3-1 UEFA Euro 1996 qualification
27 15 November 1995 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland   Scotland L 5-0 UEFA Euro 1996 qualification
28 2 June 1996 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Wales L 5-0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
29 31 August 1996 Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales   Wales L 6-0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
30 9 October 1996 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Belgium L 3-0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
31 10 November 1996 Ali Sami Yen Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey   Turkey L 7-0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
32 29 March 1997 Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands   Netherlands L 4-0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
33 30 April 1997 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Netherlands L 6-0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
34 7 June 1997 King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium   Belgium L 6-0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
35 10 October 1997 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Israel L 5-0 UEFA Euro 2000 qualification
36 14 October 1997 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Austria L 4-1 UEFA Euro 2000 qualification
37 18 November 1997 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   Cyprus L 1-0 UEFA Euro 2000 qualification
38 10 February 1998 Tsirion Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus   Cyprus L 4-0 UEFA Euro 2000 qualification
39 28 April 1998 UPC-Arena, Graz, Austria   Austria L 7-0 UEFA Euro 2000 qualification
40 5 June 1999 Estadio El Madrigal, Villarreal, Spain   Spain L 9-0 UEFA Euro 2000 qualification

Life outside of football

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While playing football part-time in San Marino and Italy, Guerra worked as a house painter and decorator, a job he still does today.[6] In 1996, ahead of 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Wales, he pledged "If we take a point off Wales, then I will paint all [my friends'] houses for free". However, San Marino lost 5–0 at home and 6–0 in Cardiff.[7]

References

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  1. ^ William Guerra Profile footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  2. ^ William Guerra: Statistics and History 11v11.com. 5 June 1999. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  3. ^ Italy vs San Marino, 29 November 1989 - Match Report 11v11.com. 29 November 1989. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  4. ^ MATCH: 07.06.1997 Belgium - San Marino 6:0 EU-Football.info. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  5. ^ PLAYER: William Guerra EU-Football.info. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  6. ^ GUERRA WILLIAM MARINO - Imbiancatura - Repubblica Di San Marino Archived 2012-05-24 at the Wayback Machine (in Italian) PagineGialle.it. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  7. ^ World Cup 1998 Qualifying RSSSF. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
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