The long, dark night of the goals

LAWRIE SANCHEZ’ no-show for the post-match press conference may have hogged the headlines on Wednesday, but the bigger question is: where was Giampaolo Mazza?

As you all know, Mr Mazza, whose first name is often spelled “Long suffering”, is the coach of San Marino, the team which does its level best to overturn the cliché that there are no easy games in European football anymore.

While Lawrie’s non-appearance is easily explained by the fact that his side had only managed to beat Spain by the odd goal in five — and who’d want to be make a big deal about that? — you could understand if Giampaolo Mazza felt like going into a witness protection programme after seeing his boys ship 13 against Germany.