Asia’s smallest football nation, Guam, have pulled off another surprise victory in World Cup qualifying after beating India 2-1, a result that means they now top Asian World Cup qualifying Group D.
Guam’s first successful qualifier came last week, against Turkmenistan 1-0.
Brandon McDonald put the hosts Guam ahead in the 38th minute at the GFA National Training Centre, and Travis Nicklaw doubled the advantage in the 62nd minute. Sunil Chhetri pulled one back for India in stoppage time but it was not enough to avoid a second defeat in two qualifiers for India.
Guam (population 180,000) are ranked 174 in the world with India (population 1.25bn) at 141.
Guam is the smallest of Asia’s 47 national teams by a considerable margin, and so parlous was the state of football in the country barely a generation ago that they did not even bother entering the World Cup.
Before last Thursday’s 1-0 victory over Turkmenistan, the last time they played a World Cup qualifier was back in 2000, against Tajikistan in neutral Iran. They lost 16-0. Three days before that Iran had put 19 past them.
