Some people say that football is the best geography teacher. This statement is not necessarily true either. Because many countries (regions (from the original Xinhua dictionary, geography textbooks, belong to this continent, but actually play another continent game. For example, Australia, the largest country in Oceania, plays Asian games in football.
The Wild Card team in the Asian zone is not only an Australian team, but also a team from Oceania. This area is Guam. Today, we walked into Guam together. Learn what football looks like in this area.
Oceania's wild card team
Guam is the largest island in the Northern Mariana Islands. The island covers an area of 540 square kilometers and has a population of less than 200,000. According to physical geography, Guam belongs to Oceania rather than Asia.
However, in terms of IFC selection, the Guam team chose a higher level of Asia rather than Oceania. Such examples are not uncommon. For example, among the members of UEFA, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan, the European part rarely plays Europe. Israel and Armenia are all in Asia, but they play in the European Championship. In North and Central America and the Caribbean, there are Guyana and Suriname in South America.
Guam is not a national team, just a representative team. Because it is an overseas territory of the United States. What is this concept? Let's compare Guam to Hawaii. There is no harm without contrast. Although the residents of Guam and Hawaii are both U.S. citizens, their rights are different.
For example, in the US presidential election, Hawaii has seats, but Guam does not. After the residents of Guam move to the United States, they have the right to elect the president and can participate in the primary election of the president of the United States.
Because FIFA and the FEDERATION of football on all continents of the world are not intergovernmental international organizations, there are many regions that can participate in the competition in a regional capacity. In the overseas territories of the United States, in addition to the AFC's Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico in Central and North America can participate in it.
In addition to the United States, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, including China, all have regions involved. For example, the Hong Kong team. The United Kingdom is more special, there is no unified British team, but England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the rest of the overseas territories participate together.
Participated in the AFC Guam team
In the latest edition of the FIFA national team rankings, the Guam men's team is currently ranked 206th, bearing in mind that FIFA has only 210 members. After Guam, there are only four national teams in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla (British Overseas Territory) and San Marino. The Guam men's team ranks 46th among all Asian teams and is also at the bottom. As a women's team, Guam currently ranks 19th in Asia and 97th in the world.
Founded in 1975, the Guam football team played outside FIFA in its early days. Their accession to FIFA and AFC dates back to the 1990s. From Guam's recent FIFA rankings, it is not difficult to see that it has played the role of a child in the Asian region.
For example, the Hong Kong team had enough goal difference on Guam twice after the return of Hong Kong (11-0 in 2003, 15-0 in 2007). The Chinese Taipei team is considered to be one of the Asian fish belly. However, this tragedy also enjoyed the warmth of Guam.
In 1996, the first win back to the AFC, 9-2, was also won by Guam, and it was also the biggest victory won by the Chinese Taipei team.
In 2007, the Chinese Taipei team won another 10-0 victory over Guam, setting a new record again.
In the battle of the first day of the Chinese New Year, the Chinese team lost 1-3 to Vietnam, and bid a humiliating farewell to the 2022 Qatar World Cup. However, as you know, when the Chinese team competed in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian Round of 40 in Qatar, it was in the same group as Guam, Maldives, the Philippines and Syria. The Chinese team not only won the two legs against Guam, but also brushed 12 goal differences.
The total number of goals differences scored by the Chinese team in the two legs this time is not as much as the one brush in the 2000 Asian Cup qualifiers. In that game, the Chinese team won 19-0 against Guam with the multi-point blossom of many people. This is the biggest score victory created by the Chinese team.
At the 2023 Asian Cup, Guam, which is at the bottom of the Asian rankings, needs to play a qualifying match with Cambodia. In the qualifying round, Guam lost 1-3 (0-1 at home and 1-2 away) to Cambodia in two legs, and directly missed the 2023 Asian Cup in China.