Micronesia soccer team relieved at return invite – Fiji Times Online

The small federated states, made up of thousands of pacific islands, lost 30-0 in the opening game of their Olympic qualifying tournament to Tahiti.

Micronesia will attempt to restore some pride when they face Vanuatu in their final match in Pool A on Tuesday. They still have a long way to go until they beat the current record for worst defeat, however, set at 149-0 in 2002.

The half-time score was 24-0 and Vanuatu, ranked 200 in the world, did not let up after the break.

“We’re here for development purposes mainly and I’m just trying to keep the guys upbeat”.

The Olywhites open their Pacific Games campaign today at 2pm (NZ time) in their Group D clash with the Solomon Islands.

Bear in mind this wasn’t even Australia – kings of football in the region – who managed to score a goal every two minutes against them.

It has not been a good week for the footballers from the Federated States of Micronesia. Whatever else there is to say about Micronesia’s record loss to Fiji, you can say this in their soccer team’s favor – they’ve got heart.

“These facilities are checked and are of world standard and if they don’t want, they just can leave”.

After the game, Micronesia coach Stan Foster said it was “boys against men,” telling the Guardian his squad was over-matched, to say the least.

“That was big relief for me, because I was really anxious the organisers would take us out of the competition because of our scores”, he said.

Journalist Kevin Darling, reporting from the tournament, told Sky News the team were trying their best.

So how can we properly portray the atrocity that is the Micronesia soccer team?