Iran’s Journey to Russia… Eye of the Storm

Persianfootball.com – The 160,000 inhabitants of the small but beautiful island of Guam are no strangers to devastating storms, living in the Typhoon Alley in the Western Pacific, approximately 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles) east of the Philippines and south east of Japan.

But since the start of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, it’s the Guamanians themselves who have taken the world by storm, causing major devastation in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent after defeating Turkmenistan and India and sitting atop Asia’s Group D.

The eye of the storm is Guam’s 31 year old captain and most capped player of all time, Jason Cunliffe.  He told the Wall Street Journal before the start of their campaign, that it was “an opportunity to shock the world” – and they have done just that.

The match against Turkmenistan not only marked the Guamanians first ever victory in a World Cup qualifier, but also the first time they have managed to get on the scoreboard in the qualifiers – a far cry from their last attempt in 2000 when they crashed out with two straight losses and conceding 35 goals in the process.

It also marked the first time the Guamanians hosted a World Cup qualifier, an occasion that inspired Ronan MacManus – Elvis Costello’s brother – to produce and release a song called “Biba Guahan” for the national team.

Guam’s head coach Gary White had called the match “a life-changing moment for the soccer community and for the country as a whole” adding that “people have been going crazy… the fans are going to be right on top of the game, and they’ll be loud. They are very passionate people“

That assessment proved to be accurate after 3,000 fans – nearly 2% of the island’s entire population – packed the Guam F.A. National Training Centre on June 11^th.  To put that attendance in perspective, it was the equivalent of filling Tehran’s Azadi Stadium fourteen times over for a Team Melli qualifier!

And 3,300 fans packed the same stadium five days later to watch their team defeat India.  It was a devastating loss for the Indians who had thrashed Guam 4-0 in their only other encounter two years earlier and enough for ESPN’s John Duerden to call India’s “dreams of Russia over”.

On the other hand, two successive victories in World Cup qualifiers was a monumental achievement for a nation that played its first international match only in January 2000, took five long years to get on the scoreboard and four more years to register its first victory against a FIFA side.

But perhaps the feat has not been as unexpected for the Guamanians as it has been for the rest of the group, with head coach Gary White asking the pre-campaign question of “wouldn’t it be amazing to see Guam at the top of the group from June until September?”

And captain Jason Cunliffe beautifully summed up the team’s psyche and fighting spirits before the competition started, by saying “as little as we are, we’re going to come out swinging and will take our chances with anybody.”

With the storm expected to make landfall in the Middle East on September 3^rd, more accurately in or around Tehran with the venue yet to be announced, what do Cunliffe and company think about their next clash with the Asian giants?

Do they fancy their chances of causing another upset and achieving a 3^rd great feat of strength according to Guamanian legends?  What are the reasons for the proposed change in venue for the return match of the series from Iran to Guam?

Find the answers to those questions and more in the next article in the Iran’s Journey to Russia series, including a PFDC exclusive one-on-one session with Guam’s most capped player of all time, soft-spoken and cordial captain, Jason Cunliffe…

[Click here to be directed to PFDC’s exclusive one-on-one chat with Jason Cunliffe:  “Iran’s Journey to Russia…  1-on-1 With Guam’s Captain”]