Australia 31–0 American Samoa
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On 11 April 2001, the
Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...
and American Samoan national
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
teams played each other in an Oceanian qualifying match for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The match was played at the International Sports Stadium in
Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour, locally nicknamed Coffs, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 a ...
, Australia. Australia set a
world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...
for the largest victory in an international football match, winning the game 31–0. Australia's
Archie Thompson Archie Gerald Thompson (born 23 October 1978) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is also currently serving as a club ambassador for Melbourne Victory FC. Born in New Zealand, Thompson played youth foot ...
also broke the record for most goals scored by a player in an international match by scoring 13 goals. David Zdrilic, the scorer of eight goals in the match, scored the second-highest number of goals in an international match since
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. The outcome of the match led to debates about the format of the qualification tournament, which had previously (in the 1998 qualification) contained a preliminary round to avoid such lopsided matches. Australian manager
Frank Farina Frank Farina Order of Australia, OAM (born 5 September 1964) is an Australian Association football, football (soccer) coach and former player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. His playing career spanned Australia, Belg ...
and Thompson criticised the new format, eventually leading
FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
to re-introduce a preliminary round in the Oceanian zone qualification for the
2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...
. The unbalanced level of opponents was also addressed by Australia's move to the
Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...
in 2006.


Background

The first attempt from
Oceanian Oceania ( , ) is a geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its continenta ...
teams to
qualify Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...
for the
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
came at the
1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the 1966 FI ...
. In subsequent tournaments, they entered joint qualification competitions with the Asian zone until a separate qualification round for the Oceania Football Confederation was introduced in
1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...
. By the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification tournament, this had grown to a competition with ten teams entering. The ten teams were divided into two groups of five teams, where each team played against each other once. The two group winners would advance to the final round and play against each other in a home-and-away format. The winner of Oceania would advance to the intercontinental play-off round against the fifth best team in the South American zone for a place in the
World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
. Australia and American Samoa were placed in Group 1 along with
Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
,
Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...
and
Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...
with the matches to be played at
Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour, locally nicknamed Coffs, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 a ...
, Australia in April 2001. Australia and
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
were widely recognised as the strongest teams in the Oceanian zone. They were the only teams to have won the
OFC Nations Cup The OFC Men's Nations Cup, known as the OFC Nations Cup before the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup, 2024 edition, is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's natio ...
, and the only ones to have qualified for the World Cup: Australia had qualified in
1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...
and New Zealand in
1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...
. American Samoa was one of the weakest teams in the world, having lost all of their official international matches since they had joined FIFA in 1998. Before the match, Australia was ranked 75th in the
FIFA World Rankings The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, first introduced in December 1992. The men's teams of the member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their gam ...
, while American Samoa was ranked 203rd, the lowest of all FIFA members. Two days before the match, Australia recorded a 22–0 win over Tonga, breaking the previous record for the largest winning margin in an international match, held by
Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...
who won 20–0 against
Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...
in 2000. American Samoa had only recently joined FIFA, and this was their first World Cup qualifying campaign ever. It had already suffered two defeats before the match, a 13–0 loss to Fiji and an 8–0 loss to Samoa. It was also American Samoa's first (and so far only) match against Australia.


Match summary

Australia fielded a team with several rarely used players as many regulars were either rested or omitted from the team. Strikers John Aloisi and
Damian Mori Damian Mori (born 30 September 1970) is an Australian former football player who is an assistant coach for Adelaide United. He won two Johnny Warren Medals, awarded to the best player in the Australian league and was top scorer on 5 occasions ...
who combined for 10 goals in the 22–0 win over Tonga were also omitted for this match. The American Samoa team were troubled by passport issues, with only one member of their original 20-man senior team, 20-year-old
goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...
Nicky Salapu, eligible to play. He was named
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
for the match. American Samoa was also unable to call their under-20 players because most of them were involved in high school exams at the time. They were forced to draft in youth players, including three 15-year-old players, to put together a makeshift team with an average age of 18. According to team manager and
Football Federation American Samoa Football Federation American Samoa (FFAS) is the governing body for competitive soccer in American Samoa. History It came into existence following inaugural elections held in late 2007. The new general secretariat took office under newly electe ...
vice-president Tony Langkilde, some of the team's players had never played a full 90-minute match before the match with Australia. American Samoa held Australia scoreless for the first nine minutes of play until Con Boutsianis scored Australia's first goal from a corner kick.
Archie Thompson Archie Gerald Thompson (born 23 October 1978) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is also currently serving as a club ambassador for Melbourne Victory FC. Born in New Zealand, Thompson played youth foot ...
scored his first goal in the 12th minute. His strike partner David Zdrilic added his first goal a minute later.
Tony Popovic Tony Popovic (born 4 July 1973) is an Australian association football manager and former player. He is currently head coach of the Australia men's national soccer team, Australia national football team. He guided the team to qualify for the 202 ...
added two successive goals in the 17th and 19th minutes to extend Australia's lead to 6–0. In the 25th minute, Zdrilic achieved a
hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...
, making the score 9–0 for Australia. Thompson then scored 6 of the next 7 goals as Australia led 16–0 at half-time. Thompson led Australia in scoring with 8 goals at half-time and Zdrilic had 4 goals. Boutsianis, who scored the first goal of the first half, scored the first goal of the second half in the 50th minute. Boutsianis later added another goal to complete his hat-trick. Thompson and Zdrilic added five and four goals to finish with thirteen and eight goals, respectively. Boutsianis finished with 3 goals, while Popovic,
Aurelio Vidmar Aurelio Vidmar ( ; born 3 February 1967) is an Australian association football manager and former player, currently manager of Melbourne City. He is a former captain of the Australia national team and former coach of the Australia U23 nati ...
and
Simon Colosimo Simon Colosimo (born 8 January 1979) is an Australian former soccer player who played as a centre back and defensive midfielder. He spent two years playing in Europe with spells in the Premier League with Manchester City and in the Belgian Fir ...
scored two goals each and substitute Fausto De Amicis netting once. In the 86th minute, despite being down by 29 goals, American Samoa managed to launch an attack towards Australia's goal when Pati Feagiai had a shot, which was saved by Michael Petkovic. That was American Samoa's only shot on goal. The large number of goals created confusion over the correct scoreline. At the end of the match, the scoreboard at the stadium showed 32–0 and Thompson was credited with 14 goals. After the statistician did a recount, the 31–0 scoreline was announced and Thompson's total goal count was reduced to 13. After the match,
FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
went on to release the official statistics after receiving the official report from the referee and match officials, which confirmed the 31–0 scoreline and Thompson's 13 goals.


Details


Records

Australia's 31–0 win broke their own record for the largest winning margin in an international match, a 22–0 win over
Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...
recorded two days earlier in the same competition at the same stadium. Both wins surpassed the previous record held by Kuwait in a 20–0 win over Bhutan in the 2000 Asian Cup qualification. The match also broke the record for the largest margin in a World Cup qualification match. The previous record was held by
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
in a 19–0 win over
Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...
also in the 2002 World Cup qualification. Apart from team records, individual records were also broken in the match. Australia's Thompson, who only had two international
caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...
and one international goal before the match, scored 13 goals and broke the record for most goals scored in an international match. Zdrilic scored 8 goals and was widely reported as having recorded the second-most goals scored in an international match, after Thompson's 13 goals. His figure was less than the previous record of 10 goals, which was achieved by
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
's
Sophus Nielsen Sophus Erhard "Krølben" Nielsen (15 March 1888 – 6 August 1963) was a Danish amateur football player and manager, and the first player in history to score ten goals in a full national team match. Nielsen scored a total 16 goals in 20 games for ...
at the
1908 Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were originally schedu ...
and
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
's
Gottfried Fuchs Gottfried Erik Fuchs (3 May 1889 – 25 February 1972), also known as Godfrey Fuchs, was a German Olympic footballer. He scored a then-world record 10 goals for the Germany national football team, Germany national team in a 16–0 win against Rus ...
at the
1912 Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was he ...
. Nevertheless, this made Zdrilic's total the second highest in almost 90 years. Thompson also equalled the world record for most goals scored in a recognised senior match, set in 1885 when
John Petrie John Petrie (15 January 1822 – 8 December 1892) was a Scottish-born Australian politician, architect, stonemason and building contractor in Brisbane who became the city's first Mayor. Private life John Petrie was born 15 January 1822Too ...
scored 13 goals in Arbroath's 36–0 win over Bon Accord in a
Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Gary Cole Gary Michael Cole (born September 20, 1956) is an American actor. He began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. His breakout role was playing Jack 'Nighthawk' Killian in the NBC series '' M ...
, against Fiji in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers on 14 August 1981 and Iranian
Karim Bagheri Karim Bagheri (; born 20 February 1974) is an Iranian professional association football, football coach and former midfielder who most notably played for the Iran national football team, Iranian national team and Persian Gulf Pro League club Pers ...
against the
Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...
in the 1998 World Cup Asian qualifiers on 2 June 1997.


Match reactions

Australia's manager
Frank Farina Frank Farina Order of Australia, OAM (born 5 September 1964) is an Australian Association football, football (soccer) coach and former player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. His playing career spanned Australia, Belg ...
criticised the qualification format and questioned the need for these kinds of matches. Thompson, who scored a record-setting 13 goals, was delighted with his record, but he also agreed with Farina's comments. FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper agreed with both comments and suggested a change in the qualification format, with the smaller teams entering a preliminary round. However, Oceania Football Confederation chairman Basil Scarsella opposed both comments and claimed that the smaller teams have the right to face Australia and New Zealand, similar to Australia having the right to face stronger opponents such as
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
and
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. This match and the other lopsided victories in the qualification partially contributed towards the reintroduction of a preliminary round for smaller teams in the
2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...
qualifiers to avoid these one-sided matches. The significant gap between Australia, New Zealand and the rest of the teams in the Oceanian zone was one of the reasons behind Australia leaving the OFC at the end of 2005 to join the more competitive
Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...
(AFC). From the
2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...
qualifiers onwards, Australia participated in the Asian zone qualification phase. The American Samoan team did not feel down-hearted and even embraced and sang to the audience as the match finished. Salapu declared that he enjoyed the match and "wasn't embarrassed because we all learned something from it. If we had all our players, maybe it would have been only five or six goals, because I was without my best defenders and there was nothing I could do." Tony Langkilde also defended the goalkeeper, saying that he "kept the score down with a magnificent display". He also stated that "now we are recognised by FIFA, it has really helped spark an interest in football on the islands." Samoan manager Tunoa Lui commented that football was being played in the Samoan elementary and high schools and "in five years, we will be competitive."


Post-match

American Samoa closed their qualification campaign with a 5–0 loss to Tonga, finishing bottom of the group with a −57 goal difference in four matches without scoring. Australia continued their qualification campaign with a 2–0 win over Fiji and an 11–0 win over Samoa, winning the group with a +66 goal difference in four matches without conceding a single goal. Australia then defeated New Zealand, the other group winners, with an aggregate score of 6–1. By winning the Oceanian zone, they advanced to the inter-continental play-off round against
Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
, the fifth best team in the South American zone, where they were defeated with an aggregate score of 1–3, therefore failing to qualify for the 2002 World Cup.


See also

* '' Next Goal Wins'', a 2014 documentary film about the match and American Samoa's attempt to be better * '' Next Goal Wins'', a 2023 dramatisation directed by Taika Waititi based on the above documentary * The Federated States of Micronesia national under-23 football team, who conceded an average of 38 goals a match without scoring themselves at the
2015 Pacific Games The 15th Pacific Games, also known as Port Moresby 2015 or POM 2015, was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, from 4 to 18 July 2015. It was the fifteenth staging of the Pacific Games as well as the third to be hosted in Port Moresby. More tha ...
*
AS Adema 149–0 SO l'Emyrne AS Adema 149–0 SO l'Emyrne was an association football match played with on 31 October 2002 between two teams in Toamasina, Madagascar. It holds the world record for the highest scoreline in any association football match, recognised by '' Th ...
*
Arbroath 36–0 Bon Accord Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of Dundee and south-southwest of Aberdeen. ...
*
England 20–0 Latvia On 30 November 2021, the England women's national football team, England and Latvia women's national football team, Latvia national association football, football teams played each other in a 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Gro ...
*
2025 AFC U-17 Asian Cup qualification The 2025 AFC U-17 Asian Cup qualification was an international men's under-17 football competition which was held to decide the participating teams of the 2025 AFC U-17 Asian Cup. Draw Of the 47 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member associa ...
, where
Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...
won against
Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...
33–0 *
Running up the score Running up the score (or " piling on") is a sports strategy that occurs when a winning team continues to play in such a way as to score additional points after the outcome of the game is beyond doubt. More sportsmanlike alternatives might inclu ...


References


External links


Archived version of the official match report
at FIFA

at FIFA * {{DEFAULTSORT:Australia 31-0 American Samoa 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC) FIFA World Cup qualification matches Australia men's national soccer team matches 2000–01 in Australian men's soccer Record association football wins American Samoa national football team matches April 2001 sports events in Australia