GRcade

American Samoa's football team - ranked as the worst international team in the world - has won a game for the first time in its history.

The US protectorate managed a 2-1 victory over Tonga after 30 straight defeats in almost two decades.

Reports said the players and coach of the Pacific nation celebrated as if they had won a major championship.

In 2001 American Samoa lost 31-0 to Australia - the heaviest defeat in international football history.

American Samoa are joint bottom of world governing body Fifa's international rankings.

Coach Thomas Rongen said the victory would now be "part of soccer history".

"Maybe we have a chance to do something special here beyond this one game, but let's enjoy this one right now," he said.

Rubix wrote::lol:

American Samoa's football team - ranked as the worst international team in the world - has won a game for the first time in its history.

The US protectorate managed a 2-1 victory over Tonga after 30 straight defeats in almost two decades.

Reports said the players and coach of the Pacific nation celebrated as if they had won a major championship.

In 2001 American Samoa lost 31-0 to Australia - the heaviest defeat in international football history.

American Samoa are joint bottom of world governing body Fifa's international rankings.

Coach Thomas Rongen said the victory would now be "part of soccer history".

"Maybe we have a chance to do something special here beyond this one game, but let's enjoy this one right now," he said.

Source

Beans wrote:We should put together a GRCade team and give them a game

poser wrote:What the riveting fúck is a 'protectorate'? I'm learning all sorts of gooseberry fool about geography and politics today.

American Samoa are joint bottom of world governing body Fifa's international rankings.

Caliban wrote:

poser wrote:What the riveting fúck is a 'protectorate'? I'm learning all sorts of gooseberry fool about geography and politics today.

I believe it's a big brother/little brother type scenario - the protectorate doesn't directly pay taxes or anything to the larger nation, but do have obligations towards them in exchange for military protection. I think Bermuda is one of ours.

Preezy wrote:

American Samoa are joint bottom of world governing body Fifa's international rankings.

Who are they joint bottom with?

Peter Crisp wrote:I bet if England played them at Wembley we'd still only manage a 2-1 snoozefest win.

Caliban wrote:

poser wrote:What the riveting fúck is a 'protectorate'? I'm learning all sorts of gooseberry fool about geography and politics today.

I believe it's a big brother/little brother type scenario - the protectorate doesn't directly pay taxes or anything to the larger nation, but do have obligations towards them in exchange for military protection. I think Bermuda is one of ours.

BID0 wrote:How can you lose by over 30 goals a game is only 90 minutes! Surely you could hold the ball up for more than 3 minutes.

PsychicSykes wrote:

BID0 wrote:How can you lose by over 30 goals a game is only 90 minutes! Surely you could hold the ball up for more than 3 minutes.

American Samoa are pretty much in trouble in every way when it comes to sport. Their population could fit inside most Premier League teams stadiums, the country doesn't have a huge amount of money to invest in sporting facilities, their team is made up of amateurs and they've barely 30 matches in their footballing existence, giving them little chance to learn and improve. As it is, even against international teams who's standard is semi-pro they'd struggle and when the opposition have a number of professionals as Australia did in the famous 31-0 loss, the skill gap is going to insurmountable.

The American Samoa team were troubled by passport issues, with only one member of their original 20-man senior team, goalkeeper Nicky Salapu, eligible to play. American Samoa were also unable to call their under-20 players because most of them were involved in high school exams at the time. Therefore, they were forced to draft in their youth players, including three 15-year-old players, to put together a makeshift team with an average age of 18.[5] According to team manager and Football Federation American Samoa vice-president Tony Langkilde, most of the Samoan players never played a full 90-minute game before the match with Australia.