American Samoa national football team

American Samoa
Association	Football Federation American Samoa (FFAS)
Confederation	OFC (Oceania)
Head coach	Steve Rutter
Captain	Liatama Amisone Jr.
Most caps	Nicky Salapu (17)
Top scorer	Shalom Luani ; Ramin Ott (2)
Home stadium	Veterans Memorial Stadium
FIFA code	ASA
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	179
Highest	173 (September 2012)
Lowest	206 (February 2011)
First international
	unofficial; Western Samoa 3–1 Am. Samoa ; (Apia, Western Samoa; August 20, 1983); FIFA recognised; Tonga 3–0 Am. Samoa ; (Rarotonga, Cook Islands; September 2, 1998)
Biggest win
	unofficial; Am. Samoa 3–0 Wallis and Futuna ; (Apia, Western Samoa; August 22, 1983); FIFA recognized; Am. Samoa 2–1 Tonga ; (Apia, Samoa; November 22, 2011)
Biggest defeat
	Australia 31–0 American Samoa ; (Coffs Harbour, Australia; April 11, 2001) ; (International Record)

The American Samoa national association football team (Template:Lang-sm) represents American Samoa in association football and is controlled by the Football Federation American Samoa, the governing body the sport in the territory. American Samoa's home ground is Veterans Memorial Stadium in Pago Pago and their head coach is Thomas Rongen, who previously ran the United States U-20 team.^[1] Regarded as one of the world's weakest teams,^[1] until November 2011 they were the joint lowest FIFA ranking of all countries registered for full internationals.^[2]^[3] The team hold the world record for the largest defeat in an international match, set after their 31–0 loss to Australia.^[4]

The team has seen a major improvement to their results since Rongen's appointment.

American Samoa achieved its first victory in a 3–0 win against Wallis and Futuna in the group stage of the 1983 South Pacific Games,^[5] when neither team was a member of FIFA.

On November 23, 2011, the team defeated Tonga 2–1 in the first round of OFC World Cup Qualification, with a long-range goal by Ramin Ott, and a chip over the keeper by Shalom Luani, helping them record their first official international victory after 30 consecutive defeats.^[1]

They followed this up with a 1–1 draw against Cook Islands, but failed to progress in their qualifying group, after losing to Samoa 1–0, the only goal being scored in the 89th minute.

On December 2011 the team achieved its greatest position in the FIFA World Rankings.

American Samoa all time record against all nations

As of November 27, 2011 (UTC)

Against	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD	% Won
Australia	1	0	0	1	0	31	−31	0%
Cook Islands	3	0	1	2	4	8	−4	0%
Fiji	2	0	0	2	0	24	−24	0%
Guam	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2	0%
New Caledonia	3	0	0	3	0	28	−28	0%
Papua New Guinea	3	0	0	3	0	37	−37	0%
Samoa	9	1	0	9	3	41	−38	0%
Solomon Islands	2	0	0	2	1	16	−15	0%
Tahiti	3	0	0	3	1	32	−31	0%
Tonga	8	1	0	7	8	25	−17	12.5%
Tuvalu	1	0	0	1	0	4	−4	0%
Vanuatu	4	0	0	4	1	39	−38	0%
Wallis and Futuna	2	1	0	1	4	5	−1	50%
Total	42	3	1	39	22	294	−272	4.76%

World Cup record

1930–1998: Did not enter
2002–2014: Did not qualify

World Cup qualification record

FIFA World Cup qualification history
Year	Round	H/A/N	Score	Result
2002	Group 1	N	American Samoa 0 – 13 Fiji	Loss
	Group 1	N	American Samoa 0 – 8 Samoa	Loss
	Group 1	N	American Samoa 0 – 31 Australia	Loss
	Group 1	N	American Samoa 0 – 5 Tonga	Loss
2006	Group 1	A	American Samoa 0 – 4 Samoa	Loss
	Group 1	N	American Samoa 1 – 9 Vanuatu	Loss
	Group 1	N	American Samoa 0 – 11 Fiji	Loss
	Group 1	N	American Samoa 0 – 10 Papua New Guinea	Loss
2010	Group B	N	American Samoa 1 – 12 Solomon Islands	Loss
	Group B	A	American Samoa 0 – 7 Samoa	Loss
	Group B	N	American Samoa 0 – 15 Vanuatu	Loss
	Group B	N	American Samoa 0 – 4 Tonga	Loss
2014	First round	N	American Samoa 2 – 1 Tonga	Win
	First round	N	American Samoa 1 – 1 Cook Islands	Draw
	First round	A	American Samoa 0 – 1 Samoa	Loss

OFC Nations Cup record

1973 and 1980 — Did not enter
1996 to 2012 — Did not qualify

South Pacific Games record

1963 to 1979 — Did not enter
1983 — Group Stage
1987 — Sixth place
1991 to 2003 — Did not enter
2007 — Group Stage
2011 — Group Stage

Performance at the 1983 South Pacific Games

The football tournament at the 1983 South Pacific Games in Western Samoa was the first time American Samoa had entered, having missed the six tournaments from 1963 to 1979. American Samoa were drawn in Group A along with Samoa, Tonga, and the Wallis and Futuna Islands. Two points would be awarded for a win, one for a draw, with the top two in each group advancing to the quarter-finals. Their first two games ended in defeat, losing 3–1 to Samoa and 3–2 to Tonga. In their final game against the Wallis and Futuna Islands, however, they achieved their first victory, winning by three goals to nil. The two points gained from this win, though, were not enough to finish in the top two, so American Samoa went out at the group stage.

Performance at the 1987 South Pacific Games

The 1987 football tournament saw American Samoa compete for the 2nd time in their history. In a format change from the previous tournament in 1983, the entered teams were placed in one large group, with the group winner taking the gold medal. In their opening match, American Samoa were on the receiving end of a 10–0 thrashing from the hosts, New Caledonia. Their next two matches also ended in defeat, albeit less severe: 7–0 against Vanuatu and 5–1 against the Wallis and Futuna Islands. Papua New Guinea, however, were less merciful, and scored twenty without reply in what turned out to be the American Samoans' last game of the tournament, their final match against Tahiti being cancelled. American Samoa would not enter again until 2007, missing the 1991, 1995, and 2003 tournaments.

Performance at the 2007 South Pacific Games

American Samoa made their 3rd appearance at the South Pacific Games football tournament in 2007. The competition also doubled as the first stage of the OFC qualification tournament for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, with the three medal winners progressing to the final qualifying group. American Samoa were drawn in Group B along with the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa, and Vanuatu. In their opening match, they were defeated 12–1 by the Solomon Islands, with Ramin Ott scoring only their second goal in their FIFA World Cup qualification history. Following two more heavy defeats (7–0 against Samoa and 15–0 against Vanuatu), American Samoa went into their final game versus Tonga unable to qualify from their group. Their 4–0 defeat in this game, however, was their best result since 2006.

Performance at the 2011 South Pacific Games

At the football tournament of the 2011 South Pacific Games, held in Nouméa, New Caledonia, American Samoa were drawn in Group A alongside the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Guam, Tuvalu, and the hosts New Caledonia. In their opening two games, they were defeated 4-0 first by Tuvalu and then by the Solomon Islands. Their best result came in game three, a 2-0 loss to Guam, before back-to-back 8-0 defeats to New Caledonia and Vanuatu ensured that once again American Samoa exited at the group stage. Their group stage stats: Played 5, Lost 5, Scored 0, Conceded 26.

Managers

Tiwo Kummings (2000)
Anthony Langkilde (2001)
Tunoa Lui (2001–02)
Ian Crook (2004)
Nathan Mease (2007)
David Brand (2007–10)
Iofi Lalogafuafua (2011)
Thomas Rongen (2012–present)

Squad

The following squad was selected for 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification against Tonga, Samoa and Cook Islands. The caps is of the players is only in FIFA matches.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club
1	1GK	Nicky Salapu	(1980-09-13) September 13, 1980 (age 44)	17	Mitra Kukar
23	1GK	Chin-Fu Ta'ase	(1990-07-18) July 18, 1990 (age 34)	2	Pago Youth

2	2DF	Liatama Amisone Jr.	(1989-03-02) March 2, 1989 (age 35)	12	Pago Youth
3	2DF	Uasila'a Heleta	(1986-01-21) January 21, 1986 (age 38)	15	Pago Youth
4	2DF	Daru Taumua	(1991-11-01) November 1, 1991 (age 33)	10	Pago Youth
5	2DF	Tala Luvu	(1990-09-02) September 2, 1990 (age 34)	12	Lion Heart FC
12	2DF	Terrence Sinapati	(1980-09-21) September 21, 1980 (age 44)	7	PanSa East
16	2DF	Johnny Saelua^[6]	(1988-07-19) July 19, 1988 (age 36)	10	University of Hawaii
18	2DF	Justin Manao	(1993-03-25) March 25, 1993 (age 31)	3	Pacific Lutheran University
19	2DF	Rawlston Masaniai	(1983-05-13) May 13, 1983 (age 41)	3	Unattached

7	3MF	Ismael Herrera	(1991-10-03) October 3, 1991 (age 33)	5	PanSa East
8	3MF	Moe Kuresa	(1991-01-07) January 7, 1991 (age 33)	8	Pago Youth
9	3MF	Ramin Ott	(1986-06-22) June 22, 1986 (age 38)	11	Bay Olympic
10	3MF	Kid Bartley	(1994-02-22) February 22, 1994 (age 30)	0	Tafuna High School
17	3MF	Natia Natia	(1985-03-02) March 2, 1985 (age 39)	11	Persepam Pamekasan
22	3MF	Fitiuta Maiava	(1990-07-12) July 12, 1990 (age 34)	0	Pago Youth

11	4FW	Diamond Ott	(1981-06-27) June 27, 1981 (age 43)	7	Unattached
13	4FW	Faimalo Tapui	(1983-07-03) July 3, 1983 (age 41)	12	Pago Youth
14	4FW	Charlie Uhrle	(1992-09-25) September 25, 1992 (age 32)	8	Unattached
15	4FW	Gene Neemia	(1988-02-06) February 6, 1988 (age 36)	10	Pago Youth
20	4FW	Shalom Luani	(1994-08-05) August 5, 1994 (age 30)	10	Tafuna Jets
21	4FW	Suani Uelese	(1991-05-30) May 30, 1991 (age 33)	2	Unattached

External links

Official website

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "American Samoa wins first ever football match after 30 straight defeats in 17 years". The Daily Telegraph. November 23, 2011. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
^ "FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA.com. November 23, 2011. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
^ American Samoa's victory on November 23 came too late for this ranking period, and will be incorporated into the December rankings
^ Rookwood, Dan (April 11, 2001). "Aussie Rules as Socceroos smash world record again". The Guardian. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
^ Lee, Ben (November 24, 2011). "American Samoa football team celebrate first win in 18 years". Digital Spy. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
^ "Saelua apparently became the first transgender player to compete on a World Cup stage." Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/sports/soccer/jonny-saelua-transgender-player-helps-american-samoa-to-first-international-soccer-win.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=jonny&st=cse, examined November 30, 2011.

[DT-1] "American Samoa wins first ever football match after 30 straight defeats in 17 years". The Daily Telegraph. November 23, 2011. Retrieved November 23, 2011.

[2] "FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA.com. November 23, 2011. Retrieved November 24, 2011.

[3] American Samoa's victory on November 23 came too late for this ranking period, and will be incorporated into the December rankings

[4] Rookwood, Dan (April 11, 2001). "Aussie Rules as Socceroos smash world record again". The Guardian. Retrieved November 24, 2011.

[5] Lee, Ben (November 24, 2011). "American Samoa football team celebrate first win in 18 years". Digital Spy. Retrieved November 24, 2011.

[6] "Saelua apparently became the first transgender player to compete on a World Cup stage." Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/sports/soccer/jonny-saelua-transgender-player-helps-american-samoa-to-first-international-soccer-win.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=jonny&st=cse, examined November 30, 2011.

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v t e National football teams of Oceania (OFC)
OFC Nations Cup
Active	American Samoa Cook Islands FS Micronesia² Fiji Kiribati¹ New Caledonia New Zealand Niue² Palau² Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tahiti Tonga Tuvalu¹ Vanuatu
Former	Australia (moved to AFC in 2006) Northern Mariana Islands³ (moved to AFC in 2009) Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)⁴ (returned to AFC in 1989)
¹ Associate member of OFC - Not a member of FIFA ² Not a member of OFC and consequently not a member of FIFA ³ Northern Mariana Islands was only an associate member of OFC between 1998 and 2009 - Not a member of FIFA ⁴ Although not geographically in Oceania, Chinese Taipei was a member of the OFC between 1976–1978 and 1982–1989 Although not geographically in Oceania Israel entered OFC World Cup qualification in 1986 and 1990 due to political reasons, though it never became a formal OFC member.