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.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | William Marino Guerra | ||
| Date of birth | 24 February 1968 | ||
| 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
editGuerra 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
editUnder-21
editUnusually, 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
editGuerra 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]
Life outside of football
editWhile 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
edit- ^ William Guerra Profile footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
- ^ William Guerra: Statistics and History 11v11.com. 5 June 1999. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
- ^ Italy vs San Marino, 29 November 1989 - Match Report 11v11.com. 29 November 1989. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
- ^ MATCH: 07.06.1997 Belgium - San Marino 6:0 EU-Football.info. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
- ^ PLAYER: William Guerra EU-Football.info. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
- ^ GUERRA WILLIAM MARINO - Imbiancatura - Repubblica Di San Marino Archived 2012-05-24 at the Wayback Machine (in Italian) PagineGialle.it. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
- ^ World Cup 1998 Qualifying RSSSF. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
External links
edit- William Guerra – FIFA competition record (archived)
- William Guerra at National-Football-Teams.com