Football: Guam send message with shock win, reports media
Guam's only previous World Cup qualification campaign, in 2000, ended in disaster
HAGATNA (AFP) - Guam s media on Wednesday hailed the tiny Pacific island s shock win over India in World Cup qualifying as a historic result that showed the team were no longer Asian football also-rans.
The 174th-ranked Matao beat India 2-1 on Tuesday, outplaying opponents who are 33 places above them in the FIFA rankings and have a population of 1.24 billion to Guam s 160,000.
The win, before an ecstatic capacity crowd of almost 5,000 at the Guam Football Association (GFA) National Training Center, followed their first-ever victory in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match last week when they beat Turkmenistan 1-0.
"The small island that wasn t supposed to win any matches in the World Cup qualifiers is standing an impressive 2-0 in the early qualifying stages," the daily Marianas Variety newspaper said.
"There s still a lot more soccer left to be played, but it s safe to say no one is taking Guam for granted from here on out," it added.
Guam s only previous World Cup qualification campaign, in 2000, ended in disaster when they were thumped 19-0 by Iran and 16-0 by Tajikistan.
Their worst-ever international defeat was a 21-0 humiliation at the hands of North Korea in 2005, and India went into Tuesday s fixture full of confidence after posting a 4-0 win over the island team in 2013.
But Guam s Pacific Daily News pointed out the Mateo -- meaning "courage" in the indigenous Chamorro language -- had "dominated India in nearly every phase of the game".
Fans praised the victory on the GFA s Facebook page, with Federico Micci describing it as "an authentic and outstanding miracle!"
"Gave the Indian fans a humble pie today. A lot were predicting a big scoreline that would favour their side," Michael Vargas commented.
Guam s fortunes have improved since English coach Gary White was appointed in 2012, and there have been no double-digit scorelines since he took charge.
White has bolstered the team with US-based players with Guam heritage, such as LA Galaxy defender A.J. DeLaGarza.
"It feels nice to be at the top of the group," the coach told FIFA.com after the India win.
"We used American-based players to the fullest extent. This is not the same Guam who used to play some 15-16 years back."
Guam play their next World Cup Group D qualifiers against Iran and Oman in September.
