By David Owen
July 8 – Football is generally a low-scoring game, but it is not invariably so. Arbroath 36 Bon Accord 0 in September 1885 in the Scottish Cup is one well-known counter-example that springs to mind. Australia 31 American Samoa 0 in April 2001 in a World Cup qualifier is another.
Even so, it must be doubtful if any senior team can have run up a comparable record to that just compiled by ultra-minnows the Federated States of Micronesia at the Pacific Games currently taking place in Port Moresby.
In their three matches in Group A of the football competition, played between July 3 and 7, Micronesia, which comprises numerous small Pacific islands, scored no goals while conceding an astonishing 114.
Opening with a 0-30 defeat at the hands of Tahiti, number 182 in the FIFA rankings, they proceeded to lose 38-0 to Fiji (number 195) before winding up on Tuesday with a scarcely believable 46-0 reverse – equivalent to one goal conceded every two minutes – against Vanuatu (joint 200, that is to say, only three places higher than American Samoa).
Coach Stan Foster acknowledged after the Fiji game, “We’re here for development purposes mainly”, adding: “I just wanted the guys to keep fighting all the way through the game so they knew that when they came off they tried their hardest.”
In the wake of the even more one-sided Vanuatu match, Foster at least had the consolation that Micronesia are to be allowed to compete at the next Pacific Games in Tonga.
“That was big relief for me, because I was really worried the organisers would take us out of the competition because of our scores,” he said. “I’ve been assured that we will be allowed to come back and that they are aware that this is a development squad. They are boys, not men and they have been playing against well-seasoned men. I’m hoping the majority of our boys will be here for at least eight years.”
In spite of the mind-boggling scale of their victory, Vanuatu failed to progress to the Games knockout stages, having to content themselves with still being in the hunt for a Rio 2016 Olympic qualification slot. Their next opponents in that competition will be New Zealand.
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