Guam national football team


The Guam national football team represents the United States territory of Guam in international football and is controlled by the Guam Football Association. They are affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation's East Asian Football Federation region.
Guam reached its highest ever position in the FIFA World Ranking at 146 in 2015 after victories over Turkmenistan and India.

History

Guam's team was founded in 1975 and joined FIFA in 1996. It's one of FIFA's smallest Member Associations in population and size. It has competed in World Cup qualification on two occasions. However, Guam was eliminated in the first round of Asian qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup after losing against Iran and Tajikistan and was eliminated in the second round of qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Recently, Guam has found success by winning the EAFF preliminary competition and qualifying for the semi-final round in 2012, 2013, and 2014. In 2016, Guam automatically qualified for the semifinal round based on its FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. Guam finished third out of four teams in Group A of the 2014 Challenge Cup qualifiers, completing group play with a 3–0 victory over Chinese Taipei, a win over its regional rival for the first time in history. During November 2013's FIFA International games schedule, Guam beat Cambodia 2–0 and drew with Laos 1–1. Both these International fixtures were played away at the opponents' home national stadiums.
On 11 June 2015, during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers of Group D, Guam clinched their first-ever World Cup Qualifier win beating Turkmenistan 1–0. The game was the first time Guam hosted a World Cup qualifier on their home soil. Just a few days later, Guam hosted their second World Cup qualifier to India and defeated them by a 2–1 scoreline. The win was notable considering India's FIFA rankings sits 33 spots ahead at No. 141, their population is in the billions and they were recently dubbed the 'sleeping giants of football' by FIFA.
In 2022 World Cup qualifying, Guam advanced to the second round with a 5-1 aggregate victory over Bhutan.

Guam National Team Officials

On 1 February 2012, Gary White was appointed as head coach and also served as the federation's technical director. The same year, Guam Football Association officially adopted the nickname Matao for the team, which refers to the highest social class in ancient Chamorro society. National football teams in Guam also began using the Inifresi regularly before every training session and all matches.
Before 2012, the men's national team had only won twice against FIFA member nations - a 1-0 win against Mongolia in 2009 and a 2-0 win over American Samoa in 2011. In 2012, Guam defeated Macau twice - a 3-0 victory in that year's EAFF East Asian Cup Preliminary Round 1 tournament in Guam and another 3-0 victory in the 2012 Philippines Football Peace Cup in Manila. In Round 2 of the EAFF East Asian Cup Preliminary Round, Guam battled to a 1-1 draw with Chinese Taipei, marking the first point earned in the semifinal round of the regional tournament. In 2013, Guam finished third of four teams in Group A of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualification, completing group play with a resounding 3–0 victory over Chinese Taipei, a win over the regional rival for the first time in history. Due to the success of the Matao, FIFA Futbol Mundial and various other world media have featured the progress of the Guam national football team. On 30 May 2016, White was appointed as head coach of Shanghai Shenxin in the China League One. With the EAFF E-1 Football Championship semifinal round set for November 2016, Guam acquired head coach Darren Sawatzky on an interim basis.
In late 2017, Guam Football Association announced the appointment of Australia's Karl Dodd as the new Matao Head Coach. Since arriving in Guam in early 2018, Dodd has called prospective players into a training camp in California, where they played against San Diego State University's men's soccer team, as well as LA Galaxy II.

Previous Coaches

Current squad

The following players were called up to for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification.
Caps and goals updated as of 14 October 2019.
! colspan="9" style="background:#b0d3fb; text-align:left;"|
! colspan="9" style="background:#b0d3fb; text-align:left;"|
! colspan="9" style="background:#b0d3fb; text-align:left;"|

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Guam squad within last 12 months.
Retired players are not listed.
! colspan="9" style="background:#b0d3fb; text-align:left;"|
! colspan="9" style="background:#b0d3fb; text-align:left;"|
! colspan="9" style="background:#b0d3fb; text-align:left;"|

Results and fixtures

2019

2020

Records

Guam registered its first victory over a member of FIFA on 11 March 2009, 35 years after making its debut. They beat Mongolia, by a score of 1–0 in the 2010 East Asian Cup Preliminary Competition, at home in Yona. Christopher Mendiola scored the only goal after 9 minutes.
The second victory was a 2–0 against American Samoa on 1 September 2011, in Group A at the 2011 Pacific Games in Noumea, New Caledonia. Dylan Naputi and Elias Merfalen scored in the second half.
Guam has beaten its nearest neighbor, the Northern Mariana Islands on four occasions from 2007 to 2009. Although a member of the East Asia Football Federation since 2006, the islands are not FIFA members.
Recently they have recorded further victories over Chinese Taipei and Macau in International competition and were narrowly beaten 3-2 in Hong Kong against the host country in November 2016.

1975 South Pacific Games

Guam first competed in football at the 1975 South Pacific Games which it hosted in August of that year. They lost their first ever game to Fiji and then lost to the Solomon Islands to finish at the bottom of Group 2.

1979 South Pacific Games

Guam competed in South Pacific Games Football – 1979 in Fiji and was placed in Group 4 alongside New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. During the tournament, held in September 1979, Guam lost to New Caledonia and to the New Hebrides as both of the other teams advanced.

1991 South Pacific Games

The 1991 South Pacific Games saw Guam's first matches since the 1979 tournament, twelve years previous. In Papua New Guinea, Guam were in Group 2 and lost their opener to Tahiti on 9 September 1991. On 12 September they lost to Fiji before losing to New Caledonia.

1996 Asian Cup

In Guam's first Asian Cup qualification attempt at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Ryan Stepp at 15 years of age became the youngest player to score in Asian Cup qualification in a 9–2 loss to Chinese Taipei.

2002 World Cup Qualification

Guam entered World Cup qualification for the first time for the 2002 tournament which was jointly held in Japan and South Korea. They were put in Group B of the first qualifying round, against Iran and Tajikistan. Each team played each other once in the Takhti Stadium in the city of Tabriz, Iran.

2006 AFC Challenge Cup

The first-ever 2006 AFC Challenge Cup was held in Bangladesh in April 2006. As a competition for Asia's weakest teams, there was no qualification scheme. Guam were put in Group C alongside the hosts, Palestine and Cambodia.
Guam played their first game at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, on 1 April, in front of 3,000 people and were defeated by Palestine, for whom Fahed Attal scored six times. Bangladesh then defeated Guam on 3 April, with two late goals from Mohammed Abul. The match was watched by 18,000. Three days later 550 people watched Cambodia defeat Guam at the Bangladesh Army Stadium.

2013 EAFF East Asian Cup

In 2012, the first round of preliminary competition was hosted by Guam. Guam finished first within the tournament advancing to Round 2 of preliminary competition.

2014 AFC Challenge Cup

Guam finished third during the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualification and completed their group play with a resounding 3–0 victory over Chinese Taipei for the first time in history.

2015 EAFF East Asian Cup

In 2014, the first round of preliminary competition was hosted by Guam. Guam finished first, advancing to the semifinal round for the third-straight time.

2018 World Cup Qualification

Guam entered the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in Group D. Guam hosted the qualifiers for the first time at the Guam Football Association National Training Center in Harmon, which was built with financial assistance from FIFA's Goal Programme. During the qualifying round, Guam clinched their first FIFA World Cup qualifying win ever by defeating Turkmenistan. Just a few days later, Guam won their second FIFA World Cup qualifying match beating India. The win was notable considering India's FIFA ranking sits 33 spots ahead at No. 141, the size of India's population, and their reputation as they were recently dubbed "the sleeping giants" of football by FIFA.

Tournament record

World Cup

AFC Asian Cup

Micronesian Games