American-Samoan national soccer team

American Samoa
American Samoa

Association	Football Federation American Samoa
confederacy	OFC
Head coach	Tunoa Lui
captain	Ramin Ott
Record scorer	Duane Atualevao, Ramin Ott (3 each)
Record player	Nicky Salapu (16)
Home stadium	Veterans Memorial Stadium
FIFA code	ASA
FIFA rank	192. (900 points) (as of July 16, 2020)
First jersey Second jersey
Balance sheet
46 games 4 wins 1 draw 41 losses
statistics
First international game Samoa 3-1 ASA ( Apia , Samoa ; August 20, 1983)
Biggest win ASA 3-0 Wallis and Futuna (Apia, Samoa; August 22, 1983)
Highest Loss Australia 31: 0 ASA ( Coffs Harbor , Australia , April 11, 2001)
(As of September 4, 2015)

The American Samoan national football team is the American Samoa selection team . American Samoa is not an independent state, but a US territory , but has its own football association.

American Samoa is a member of the world football association FIFA and the regional association OFC . Thus, one takes part in the qualifying games for the soccer world championships as well as for the OFC Nations Cup . So far, the team has not yet managed to qualify for the soccer world championship , nor have they qualified for the OFC Nations Cup.

Due to the low population of the country and the great popularity of American football, American Samoa is one of the worst national teams in the world and is always at the bottom of the FIFA world rankings .

American Samoa first won an official FIFA match against Tonga on November 22, 2011 . The only win to date comes from a game against Wallis and Futuna in the South Pacific Games in 1983, when neither were yet members of FIFA (Wallis and Futuna are not yet).

In 2014, the documentary Next Goal Wins was released for the team.

American Samoa at the World Cup

At the 2002 World Cup , American Samoa took part in qualifying for a FIFA tournament for the first time. In the first round of the Oceania zone, the team played against the national teams from Australia , Fiji , Samoa and Tonga . American Samoa lost the opening match of the competition on April 7, 2001 with 0:13 against Fiji. Already at half time they were 8-0 down. The next opponent was Samoa on April 9th. This game was also clearly lost 8-0. On April 11th you had to play against Australia. The game was lost 0:31, making it the biggest defeat by a national team in the history of football. The last group game was finally lost on April 14th with 0: 5 against Tonga. All group matches were played in Coffs Harbor in the Australian state of New South Wales . In the end, American Samoa finished last in the table with four defeats from four games and a goal balance of 0 goals scored to 57 goals conceded.

The 2006 World Cup began for American Samoa in qualifying with a game against Samoa on May 10, 2004. After 90 minutes the game ended 0: 4. Then they played against Vanuatu on May 2, 2004. In the end, the team was clearly defeated by 1: 9, the only goal scored by Natia Natia in the 39th minute. In the third group game on May 15, the opponent was Fiji, the game was clearly lost with 0:11. Finally, the team had to face Papua New Guinea on May 17th . This match was also lost with 0:10. All games took place at the Toleafoa JS Blatter Complex in Apia , Samoa . As in the qualification for the 2002 World Cup, American Samoa ended the qualification for the 2006 World Cup with the last group ranking and a goal difference of 1:34.

In qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa , American Samoa was eliminated from four games in a group with the Solomon Islands , Samoa , Tonga and Vanuatu with zero points and a goal difference of 1:38. Against Vanuatu they lost 0:15. During the qualification for the Football World Cup 2014 , the American Samoa team caused a stir in their game against Tonga on November 21, 2011 in two ways: the 2-1 win was the first ever win in an international competition. In addition, on the American Samoa side, Jaiyah Saelua played for the first time in an official FIFA World Cup qualifying match, a transgender player.

In qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, two wins were achieved for the first time in the first round. Equal on points with Samoa and the Cook Islands, however, due to the poorer goal difference, only the second place was taken and thus the second round was missed.

All games held so far (as of September 4, 2015) have taken place away from home or on a neutral pitch.

American Samoa results in World Cup qualification:

date	place	opponent	Result	Goal scorers
Football World Cup 2002
04/07/2001	Coffs Harbor	Fiji	0:13
04/09/2001	Coffs Harbor	Samoa	0: 8
04/11/2001	Coffs Harbor	Australia	0:31
04/14/2001	Coffs Harbor	Tonga	0: 5
Football World Cup 2006
05/10/2004	Apia	Samoa	0: 4
05/12/2004	Apia	Vanuatu	1: 9	Natia Natia
05/15/2004	Apia	Fiji	0:11
05/17/2004	Apia	Papua New Guinea	0:10
Soccer World Cup 2010
08/25/2007	Apia	Solomon Islands	1:12	Ramin Ott
07/27/2007	Apia	Samoa	0: 7
08/29/2007	Apia	Vanuatu	0:15
09/01/2007	Apia	Tonga	0: 4
Football World Cup 2014
11/22/2011	Apia	Tonga	2: 1	Ramin Ott , Shalom Luani
11/24/2011	Apia	Cook Islands	1: 1	Shalom Luani
11/26/2011	Apia	Samoa	0: 1
Football World Cup 2018
08/31/2015	Nuku'alofa	Samoa	2: 3	Frankie Beauchamp (2)
02.09.2015	Nuku'alofa	Tonga	2: 1	Justin Mana'o , Ramin Ott
04.09.2015	Nuku'alofa	Cook Islands	2-0	Ali'i Mitchel , Justin Mana'o

Participation in soccer world championships

Before 1983 there was no national team.

• 1986 - did not participate
• 1990 - did not participate
• 1994 - did not participate
• 1998 - did not participate
• 2002 - did not qualify
• 2006 - did not qualify
• 2010 - did not qualify
• 2014 - did not qualify
• 2018 - did not qualify

Participation in the OFC Nations Cup

• 1996 - Not qualified
• 1998 - Did not qualify
• 2000 - Not qualified
• 2002 - Not qualified
• 2004 - Not qualified
• 2008 - Not qualified
• 2012 - Not qualified
• 2016 - Not qualified

Participation in the South Pacific and Pacific Games

• 1963 - 1979 - did not take part
• 1983 - preliminary round
• 1987 - preliminary round
• 1991 - 2003 - did not take part
• 2007 - preliminary round
• 2011 - preliminary round
• 2015 - did not participate
• 2019 - preliminary round

Participation in the Polynesia Cup

American Samoa took part in all three events, but finished last and lost all previous games.

• 1994 - fourth (of 4 participants)
• 1998 - fifth (out of 5 participants)
• 2000 - fifth (out of 5 participants)

Squad

The following players have been appointed to the 2019 Pacific Games from July 7th to 20th in Apia , Samoa :

No.	Item	player	Calls	Gates	society
	TW	Nicky Salapu	17th	0	PanSa East
	TW	MJ Faoa-Danielson	0	0	Vaiala Tongan
	TW	Hengihengi Ikuvalu	0	0	Pago Youth
	FROM	Uasila'a Heleta	16	0	Pago Youth
	FROM	Jaiyah Saelua	11	0
	FROM	Ryan Samuelu	4th	0	Utulei Youth
	FROM	Palauni Tapusoa	0	0	Pago Youth
	FROM	Ueli Tualaulelei	0	0	Pago Youth
	FROM	Tuaki Latu	0	0	Vaiala Tongan
	FROM	Walter Pati	0	0	Pago Youth
	FROM	Matthew Taga'i	0	0	Ilaoa and To'omata
	MF	Puni Samuelu	0	0	Pago Youth
	MF	Takai Pouli	0	0	Vaiala Tongan
	MF	Kuresa Taga'i	0	0	Ilaoa and To'omata
	MF	Roy Ledoux	0	0	Pago Youth
	MF	Milo Tiatia	0	0	Pago Youth
	MF	Mark Taga'i	0	0	Ilaoa and To'omata
	ST	Chris Faamoana	0	0	Pago Youth
	ST	Austin Kaelopa	0	0	Utulei Youth
	ST	Junior Teoni	0	0
	ST	King Moe	0	0

Games and goals updated on July 1st, 2019.

Trainer

• Anthony "Tony" Langkilde (2001)
• Tunoa Lui (2001-2002)
• Ian Crook (2004)
• Nathan Mease (2007)
• David Brand (2007-2011)
• Iofi "Avele" Lalogafuafua (2011)
• Thomas Rongen (2011)
• Uinifareti Aliva (2012)
• Larry Mana'o (2015)
• Tunoa Lui (since 2019)

See also

• List of the national matches of the American-Samoan national football team

Web links

• Official website of the Football Federation American Samoa
• Football Federation American Samoa at the OFC Continental Association
• Football Federation American Samoa at FIFA
• Anne Backhaus: Ex-Football Coach of American Samoa: The Luck of Training Losers ; Spiegel Online, May 2, 2014

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The FIFA / Coca-Cola World Ranking. In: fifa.com. July 16, 2020, accessed July 21, 2020 . 
2. ↑ James Montague: A First in Cup Qualifying for a Player and a Team , nytimes.com , November 25, 2011, accessed: March 15, 2012