They’re the worst team in the world and someone has to coach them

Every month when the FIFA world rankings come out I make a point to look at the bottom of the chart. And every month when I do so the name “American Samoa” appears last. There is something reassuring to me about this. In an uncertain world there is at least one thing certain.

If American Samoa coach David Brand has his way he’d like to take this certainty away from me. As you can read in the Reuters profile about the country he guides, he certainly has his work cut out for him. Without a top flight domestic league and in a developing country where football takes back stage to Rugby and American football, it is easy to see how the country has never won a competitive game and how it has by more than 10 goals on eight different occasions, including the most lopsided game in history.

That probably won’t change in their next two matches. After losing 12-1 to Solomon Islands and 7-0 to hosts Samoa, they face Vanuatu and Tonga in the South Pacific Games.