46-0: Micronesia football team ships 114 goals in three games

Micronesia's football team has been tearing up the record books at the Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea, but not in a good way.

The under-23 side, representing the Federated States of Micronesia at the tournament, have lost their three matches by a combined score of 114-0, with each performance worse than the last. Their most recent humiliation was a 46-0 defeat to Vanuatu, which came after a 38-0 setback against Fiji, which in turn came hard on the heels of a 30-0 drubbing from Tahiti.

The last two results are believed to be the biggest defeats recorded in international football, eclipsing Australia's 31-0 defeat of American Samoa in 2001, which inspired the acclaimed film Next Goal Wins.

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To make matters worse, Micronesia's unwanted thrashings came at the hands of two of football's least impressive national teams. Fiji are ranked 195th in the world, and Vanuatu are even lower down at 200 on the list.

But every cloud has a silver lining, according to the BBC. "Micronesia will escape their place in the record books as they are not affiliated to world football's governing body Fifa, and the squads at the Pacific Games are Under-23s because it doubles as Olympic qualifying."

Micronesia's Australian coach Stan Foster admitted it was boys against men after the Vanuatu debacle and called on Fifa to recognise Micronesia. A world ranking would open the door to technical assistance, Foster told AFP.

To coach said a world ranking would be a "huge boost". He added: "They're boys, not men... and they've been playing against well-seasoned men. I'm hoping the majority of our boys will be here for at least eight years."

Journalist Kevin Darling, covering the games in PNG, told Sky Sports: "The problem is it's not a squad of footballers, it's just a squad of normal blokes. The goalkeeper told me he went in goal for the first time ever three weeks ago. And it showed, to be fair."