Australia 31–0 American Samoa
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| Date | April 11, 2001 | ||||||
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| Venue | International Sports Stadium, Coffs Harbour, Australia | ||||||
| Referee | Ronan Leaustic (Tahiti) | ||||||
| Attendance | 3,000 | ||||||
On April 11, 2001, the Australian and American Samoa national football teams faced each other in a qualifying match for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The match was played at the International Sports Stadium in Coffs Harbour, Australia. Australia set a world record for the largest victory in an international football match, winning the game 31–0. Australia's Archie Thompson also broke the record for most goals scored by a player in an international match by scoring 13 goals in the match.[1] In addition, David Zdrilic, the scorer of eight goals in the match, achieved the second highest amount of goals in an international match since World War I.
The outcome of the match led to debates about the format of qualification tournaments, with the Australian coach and Thompson feeling that preliminary rounds should be introduced to avoid such unbalanced matches, views shared by the international footballing body FIFA. It eventually led to an introduction of a preliminary round in the Oceanian zone qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Background
Since 1986, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) organized a separate qualification rounds for the Oceanian zone. Previously, Oceanian teams entered a joint qualification rounds with the teams from Asian zone. In 2002, ten teams entered the World Cup qualification rounds for Oceanian zone. The ten teams were divided into two groups of five teams, where each teams played against each other once. The two group winners would advance to the final round and played against each other on home and away format. The winner of the Oceanian Zone 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. Australia and American Samoa were placed into Group 1 along with Fiji, Samoa and Tonga with the matches scheduled to be played at Coffs Harbour, Australia during April 2001.[2]
Australia, along with New Zealand, were widely recognized as the strongest teams in the Oceanian zone. They were the only teams to have won the OFC Nations Cup, and the only ones to qualify for the World Cup: Australia did it in 1974 and New Zealand in 1982. American Samoa, on the other hand, was one of the weakest teams in the world, having lost all of their official international matches since they joined FIFA in 1998. Prior to the match, Australia was ranked 75th in the FIFA World Rankings, while American Samoa was ranked 203rd, the lowest of all FIFA members.[3]
Two days before the match, Australia recorded a 22–0 win over Tonga, breaking the previous record for the largest win in an international match, held by Kuwait who won 20–0 against Bhutan in 2000.[4] On the other hand, American Samoa suffered two losses prior to the match, a 13–0 loss to Fiji and a 8–0 loss to Samoa.[2]
Match summary
Australia fielded a team filled with several rarely-used players as many regulars were either rested or omitted from the team. Strikers John Aloisi and Damian Mori 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, goalkeeper Nicky Salapu, eligible to play. American Samoa were also unable to call their under-20 players because most of them were involved in high school exams at the time. Therefore, they were forced to draft in their youth players, including three 15-year-old players, to put together a makeshift team with an average age of 18.[5]
American Samoa held Australia scoreless for the first ten minutes of play until Con Boutsianis scored Australia's first goal from a corner kick. Archie Thompson scored his first goal in the 12th minute, while his strike partner, David Zdrilic, added his first goal a minute later. Tony Popovic added two successive goals in the 17th and 19th minute to extend Australia's lead into 6–0. In the 25th minute, Zdrilic achieved a hat-trick, making the score 9-0 for Australia. Thompson then scored 6 of the next 7 goals as Australia led 16–0 at the half. Thompson led Australia in scoring with 8 goals at halftime, with Zdrilic trailing with 4 goals.[6][7]
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 5 and 4 goals to finish with 13 and 8 goals respectively. Boutsianis finished with 3 goals, while Popovic, Aurelio Vidmar and Simon Colosimo scored 2 goals each, and substitute Fausto De Amicis scored one goal.[6][7] 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 shot was American Samoa's first and only shot on Australia's goal.[8]
The large amount of goals created a confusion over the correct scoreline. At the end of the match, the scoreboard at the stadium showed a 32–0 and Thompson was credited with 14 goals.[9] Only after the statistician did a recount, the 31–0 scoreline was announced, and Thompson's total goals count was reduced to 13.[6] After the match, FIFA went on to release the official statistics after receiving the official report from the referee and match officials, which confirm the 31–0 scoreline and Thompson's 13 goals.[10]
Match details
Australia  | 31 – 0 | American Samoa  |
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Boutsianis  10', 50', 84'Thompson 12', 23', 27', 29', 32' 37', 42', 45', 56', 60' 65', 85', 88'Zdrilic 13', 21', 25', 33', 58' 66', 78', 89'A. Vidmar 14', 80'Popovic 17', 19'Colosimo 51', 81'De Amicis 55' |
Report |
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Records
Australia's 31–0 win broke the record for the largest win in an international match. The previous record was Australia's 22–0 win over Tonga, recorded two days earlier in the same competition. Both wins surpassed the previous record held by Kuwait in a 20–0 win over Bhutan in the 2000 Asian Cup qualification.[4] The match also broke the record for the largest win in a World Cup qualification match. The previous record was held by Iran in a 19–0 win over Guam in 2002 World Cup qualification.[1]
Apart from team records, individual records were also broken in the match. Australia's Archie Thompson, who only had two international caps and one international goal prior to the match, scored 13 goals in the match and broke the record for most goals scored in an international match. The previous record was seven goals and were jointly held by another Australian, Gary Cole, who scored seven goals against Fiji in the 1982 World Cup qualification on August 14, 1981,[11] and Iranian Karim Bagheri, who also scored seven goals against Maldives in the 1998 World Cup qualification on June 2, 1997.[12] David 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. In fact, his 8 was less than the previous record of 10 goals, which was achieved by Denmark's Sophus Nielsen at the 1908 Olympics and Germany's Gottfried Fuchs at the 1912 Olympics.[13] Nevertheless, this made Zdrilic's total the second highest in well over 90 years. Thompson also equaled the world record for most goals scored in a recognized senior match, set in 1885 when John Petrie scored 13 goals in Abroath's 36–0 win over Bon Accord in a Scottish Cup tournament.[14]
Match reactions
Australia's manager Frank Farina criticised the qualification format and questioning the need for these kind of matches. Archie 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 entered a preliminary round. However, Oceania Football Confederation chairman Basil Scarsella, opposed both comments and claimed that the smaller teams have the rights to face Australia and New Zealand, similar to Australia having the rights to face stronger opponents such as Brazil and France.[8][1]
"Breaking the world record is a dream come true for me; that sort of thing doesn't come along every day. But you have to look at the teams we are playing and start asking questions. We don't need to play these games."[8]
This match and the other lopsided victories in the qualification partially contributed towards the reintroduction of a preliminary round for smaller teams in the qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, in order to avoid these lopsided matches.[15] The significant gap between the two top teams, Australia and New Zealand, and the rest of the teams in the Oceanian zone was one of the reasons behind Australia leaving the Oceania Football Confederation at the end of 2006 to join Asian Football Confederation in order to increase the competitiveness.[16] Starting in the 2010 World Cup qualification, Australia participated in the Asian zone qualification rounds.[17]
Post-match
American Samoa closed their qualification campaign with a 5–0 loss to Tonga. American Samoa finished bottom of the groups with a -57 goal difference in four matches, without scoring a single goal in the qualifications.[2]
Australia continued their qualification campaign with a 2–0 win over Fiji and 11–0 win over Samoa. Australia finished first in the group with a +66 goal difference in four matches, without conceding a single goal. Australia then defeated New Zealand, the other group winner, with an aggregate score of 6–1.[2] By winning the Oceanian zone, Australia advanced to the intercontinental play-off round against Uruguay, the fifth best team in the South American zone, where Australia was defeated with an aggregate score of 1–3, therefore failing to qualify for the 2002 World Cup.[18]
References
- ^ a b c Davies, Christopher (April 11, 2001). "Australia score 31 without loss in record win". Telegraph.co.uk. London: Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ a b c d "2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan Preliminaries; Results, Oceanian Zone". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ Rookwood, Dan (April 11, 2001). "Aussie Rules as Socceroos smash world record again". guardian.co.uk. London: Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ a b Harris, Nick (April 10, 2001). "'Exposed' Tonga lose 22-0". The Independent. London: Independent News and Media Limited. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ Jeffreys, Mark (April 14, 2001). "FIFA ruling which left Samoans singing the blues". Telegraph.co.uk. London: Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ a b c "Australia smash two world records". ESPN.com Soccernet. ESPN Internet Ventures. April 11, 2001. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ a b "Aussie footballers smash world record". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. April 11, 2001. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ a b c "Australians set World Cup soccer scoring record". CBCSports.ca. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. April 11, 2001. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ "Was It 31-0 or 32-0?; Australia Wins". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. April 12, 2001. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ "Match Report: Australia - American Samoa". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ "The all-important Cole difference". TheAge.com.au. The Age Company Ltd. December 12, 2004. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ "Iran fanatics keep close eye on the Valley". guardian.co.uk. London: Guardian News and Media Limited. December 30, 2000. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ Rookwood, Dan (April 11, 2001). "Aussie Rules as Socceroos smash world record again". guardian.co.uk. London: Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ "On this day - September 12". Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers Ltd. September 11, 2008. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ "Road to SA 2010 starts in Samoa". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. June 21, 2007. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ "Goal at last: Australia joining Asia". smh.com.au. The Sydney Morning Herald. March 11, 2005. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ "Fifa World Cup 2010: The draw in full". Telegraph.co.uk. London: Telegraph Media Group Limited. November 26, 2007. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ Gatti, Juan (November 25, 2001). "World Cup Qualifier: Australian hopes sunk by Morales". Telegraph.co.uk. London: Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved August 5, 2009.