Guam national football team

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.[4]

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.[5][6] In 2022 World Cup qualifying, Guam advanced to the second round with a 5-1 aggregate victory over Bhutan.[7]

Position	Name
Manager	Karl Dodd
Assistant coach	Daniel McBreen
Goalkeeper coach	Matthew Ham
Team Manager	J.R. Campos
High Performance Manager	Pavel Gubenko
Physiotherapist	Allsports Physiotherapy
Team Doctor	Dr. Luis Cruz
Video Analyst
Media Officer	Jill Espiritu
Equipment Director	Thomas Castro

On 1 February 2012, Gary White was appointed as head coach and also served as the federation's technical director.[8] 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.[9][10] National football teams in Guam also began using the Inifresi (Chamorro pledge) regularly before every training session and all matches.[11]

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 (April 2013 episode #137) 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.[12] With the EAFF E-1 Football Championship semifinal round set for November 2016, Guam acquired head coach Darren Sawatzky on an interim basis.[13]

In late 2017, Guam Football Association announced the appointment of Australia's Karl Dodd as the new Matao Head Coach.[14] 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.[15]

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,[16] 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.

Media related to Guam national football team at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website (in English and Spanish)