WATCH: The Andorran football team's only ever competitive victory, plus 4 other shocks they (nearly) produced

Ahead of Friday’s game, we look at the minnows record in international football, and find that they are capable of producing the odd surprise result.

ANDORRA’S FIRST-EVER international match was a 6-1 loss to Estonia in 1996.

Following that game, the only way for them to go was up. And so it proved, although to say they’ve made considerable progress since then would be a lie.

Anyhow, they have at least managed to cause a few shocks, or near-shocks, along the way.

So watch out Ireland! As the cliche machine that is Jamie Redknapp would undoubtedly point out, there are no easy games in international football nowadays. Even if you are facing a team ranked above Montserrat, Samoa and San Marino (but below everyone else).

Here are the shocks in question:

Andorra take the lead against Ireland – 2001

No, you weren’t dreaming, this actually happened. During Mick McCarthy’s reign, Andorra came to Dublin, and took a shock early lead with a goal from a corner.

Luckily for the home fans, Ireland swiftly regained control of proceedings, thanks largely to the jinking runs and potent crossing ability of Kevin ‘Zinedine’ Kilbane. Indeed, Kilbane has an excellent record against Andorra, having scored the last time these two sides met, so he may be missed for the forthcoming qualifier.

Andorra actually win a match – 2004

In 2004, Andorra secured what was possibly the best result in their history. And while a 1-0 victory against one-time Ireland conquerors Macedonia is impressive enough in isolation, the fact that it came just four days after the Macedonians had beaten Holland made it all the more remarkable.
Marc Bernaus is the man who could legitimately be dubbed the Macedonian Ray Houghton, given that he scored what was probably the most famous goal in his country’s history. The result remains their only win in a competitive fixture to this day.

Macedonia ‘have a Macedonia’ (again) – 2005

Not content with picking up their first-ever points against Macedonia, they embarrassed the side again in the return fixture, with an impressive 0-0 draw.

This result should not be downplyed, as the Macedonia team included current Napoli striker Goran Pandev and one-time West Brom player Artim Sakiri. Macedonia aren’t the only team to have dropped points against Macedonia however, as we are about to find out…

Andorra shock Finland – 2005

Say what you want about Finland’s footballing prowess, but they did produce one of the most brilliant and underrated players ever in Jari Litmanen, so for Andorra to avoid defeat in this World Cup qualifier is commendable to say the least.

Moreover, the Finland side were no mugs and included established Premier League players including Teemo Taino, Sami Hyypia and Mikael Forssell. Sadly for the Andorrans, they have failed to win a competitive game since.

Andorra only lose 1-0 to Russia – 2007

Okay, they lost, but it was in impressive fashion, when you consider that it was against a Russian side that consequently qualified for Euro 2008 at the expense of England.

The result confirmed Russia’s passage into the European Championships, in which they duly performed impressively. However, in this match, they were frustrated for long periods of the game. It took them a whole 40 minutes to open the scoring and their sheer frustration was epitomised by Andrei Arshavin’s petulant sending off late on.