Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Micronesia suffered one of the worst defeats in international football history on Sunday night - but the 38-0 loss to Fiji is not likely to become a world record.
Micronesia, a subregion of Oceania made up of thousands of islands, followed up a 30-defeat to Tahiti in the opener with an even worse defeat; leaving them with a goal difference of minus-68 after just two matches.
But the team (pictured during the defeat above by Amichai Stein) are unlikely to have their fame recorded in the record books as they are not affiliated with Fifa, while the squads at the Pacific Games are Under-23 and double as Olympic qualifying.
That means the world record for worst defeat in an international match should still belong to American Samoa, who were beaten by Australia 31-0 in a World Cup qualifier in 2001.
“We did quite well in the second half,” Micronesia manager Stan Foster told the Guardian. “The marking was slack in the first-half so I told them to make sure they marked man to man, and that worked out a lot better.”
Micronesia were 21-0 down at half-time before opting to put midfielder Dominic Gadad between the sticks.
“They were so big,” added Gadad, 20-year-old from the island of Yap. “They beat us and then they made fun of us. It was embarrassing. It’s difficult for us. We only just started playing football.”
Antonio Tuivana scored 10 goals for Fiji.
The world record defeat in a competitive game belongs to SO l'Emyrne who lost 149-0 to AS Adema in Madagascar. SO l'Emyrne intentionally lost the game, scoring own goal after own goal in protest at a refereeing decision in their previous match.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments