Fiji Defeated Micronesia by a Score of 38-0 ... In Soccer.
By Rob Perez
Not a typo.
Fiji squared off against the Federated States of Micronesia this weekend and defeated them 38-0, scoring 21 goals in the first half. Atonio Tuivuna recorded a “Triple Hat Trick +1”? (10 goals), Chris Wasasala was second-best with only a measly 9 goal effort.
This is the most lopsided result in international soccer history, surpassing the time Australia beat American Samoa 31-0. And before you pile on the Fiji players for being big unsportsmanlike meanies: Fiji needed to win by at least 31 for potential goal differential tiebreaker purposes, as Tahiti defeated Micronesia 30-0.
Fiji’s coach, Juan Buzzetti, explained further after the match:
"“I’m happy for the boys because we’ve done something good for the country, but at the same time I feel very bad about that. We had a benchmark set by Tahiti and as we’re playing them next we didn’t have any other options. “After the game I apologised and they understand. You still feel bad though. They are young kids, they’re coming for the first time and if it wasn’t for the 30 goals Tahiti scored we would never have done that.”"
Stay tuned, as Vanuatu takes on Micronesia on Tuesday — and needs 37 goals to put them in a position to advance and/or to qualify for the 2016 Olympics. Could have another new record only days apart.