JOIN USGuam target second victory
Coming into the FIFA World Cup qualifiers not much was expected out of them. Ranked 174th in the world then, Guam, a tiny island nation on the western Pacific Ocean, took the Asian football community by storm with their splendid show in the opening phase of the qualifying campaign.
Wins against Turkmenistan and India in the first two games also saw them occupy the top spot in Group D briefly. Now they sit in the fourth place with seven points, with just one goal -- to qualify for the second round.
“That was our goal. To be on top of our group after the opening two games. I am happy that we could stick together and get the job done,” said Gary White, the head coach of the Guamanian national side.
“But it’s still half done. Coming into the qualifiers, we knew that we had to improve on our ranking to avoid the first round. Guam was ranked 197 when I took over in 2010. So that was the first goal. We had to play games and get favourable results. And now goal is to make it the next round,” he added.
Having surprised many with their performance, which also included a hard fought draw against heavyweights Oman, the Southampton-born coach attributed the succes to the combined effort put in by every unit of the squad.
“It is the result of our combined efforts. Good leadership, good planning, good environment, players believeing that they can play and win and so on. We are the smallest country in the AFC by 10 times, only Bhutan stay below us. That gives you an idea how far apart we are from the big guys. The population and the resources are very limited. We had to fight all these odds to get where we are today. It’s just our passion and determination to do well that has got us this far,” he said.
Having come a long way from enduring humiliating defeats like the 21-0 hammering by the hands of Chinese Taipei in 2005 and a 19-0 loss to China in 2000 to establish their credentials as one of the upcoming forces in Asian football, the 41-year-old said that it was the vision of the president of the Guam Football Association (GFA) Richard K Lai that had changed the fortunes of his side.
“It was Richard’s vision. When I came in as the head coach, they already had an established club and an youth system. Though it’s small it’s very well organised. That helped me. And now they needed an elite development programme, where they could take the best players from the lot and take them into a different pathway along with a competitive national side,” he explained
“These objectives helped me chalk out my plan, a three-point action. Inject professionalism into the system, something I did by overhauling the technical team, imbibe a belief of winning, for me not losing isn’t enough. And more importantly produce results so that I could get more players of Guamanian origin in the national side. Someone like a AJ DeLaGarza who plays for LA Galaxy won’t come and play for a team that loses 21-0, 19-0. So that too needed to change. These plans were backed by the FA. Though it took time, I am happy that results are out there now.”
Now with just a handful games left in the qualifier campaign, White said that his side will look to assure themselves of a Asian Cup spot.
“Our goal is simple. We are here to win. We want that second spot in the league, I think Iran will finish on top, and qualify for the Asian Cup.
“India is virtually out, but they will come hard at us as they don’t want to be embarrassed in front of their home crowd. So we will have to raise our game and match their passion to get the best of it. But for now I can assure you that I will be a great game to watch for the neutrals,” he concluded.