San Marino to San Marino by Daniel Dilworth
San Marino is considered to be the oldest continuous country in the world. In 1993 Davide Gualtieri, a former Sammarinese forward for the national team, scored the quickest goal in professional football in a World Cup qualifier against England after eight seconds. England went on to win the game 7-1 but failed to qualify for the World Cup Finals in the United States. Brazil won it for the fourth time, and so are the country to win the World Cup most often, with five titles; Italy come next, with four. They won the 2006 World Cup in an epic game which featured French legend Zinedine Zidane head butting Marco Materazzi. So Zidane got sent off in his very last game for France. Italy’s win was overshadowed by this and a match fixing scandal involving Juventus, AC Milan and Fiorentina. Juventus come from the famous city of Turin, home to Fiat. Fiat recently took control of Detroit-based car company Chrysler. Chrysler was founded by the same man who built the art deco Chrysler Building in New York, which was at one point the tallest building in the world. It was overtaken by the more famous, and arguably uglier, Empire State Building. The Empire State Building is one of the most iconic buildings in America. Both are in the top 10 on the list of America’s Favourite Architecture, compiled by the American Institute of Architects. Another building on this list is the Lincoln Memorial. This honours the sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, before he died, happily received an honorary citizenship to the small, European republic of San Marino.