Australia 31-0 American Samoa

Australia 31-0 American Samoa is the result of the world record match for the highest scoreline in an international football match. The game was held in Coffs Harbour Australia, April 11 2001, between Australia and American Samoa. The match is recognized by Guinness book of records.

Background

Australia was recognized as the best team in the oceanian zone. Australia was ranked 38th in the FIFA World ranking. American Samoa was one of lowest rated teams in the world, ranked 200th in the FIFA World ranking, and had never been ranked higher than 192nd.

A draw matched Australia against American Samoa in Group One of the 2002 World cup qualification for the oceanian zone (OFC), together with Tonga, Fiji and Western Samoa. Before the game, American Samoa played two matches, a 13-0 loss to Fiji and a 8-0 Western Samoa. Australia defeated Tonga 22-0.

The match

American Samoa held Australia scoreless for the first ten minutes of play until Con Boutsianis scored Australia's first goal of the match. In the 25th minute, David Zdrilic achieved a hat-trick, making the score 9-0 for Australia. Archie Thompson scored 6 of the next 7 goals as Australia led 16-0 at the half. Thompson led Australia in scoring with 8 goals at halftime, Zdrilic with 4, Tony Popovic with 2, Boutsianis and Aurelio Vidmar each scored one goal.

Boutsianis, who scored the first goal of the first half, scored the first goal of the second half, too, while Simon Colosimo and Fausto De Amicis added their first goals of the match, and Thompson scored his ninth to make it 20-0. Thompson and Zdrilic added 4 goals each to finish up the scoring.

In the end, with 13 goals to his name, Thompson matched John Petrie's record for the most goals in a match. The game broke the record for the highest scoreline in an international football match, 31-0.

Match details

footballbox
date = April 11, 2001
team1 = fb-rt|AUS
score = 31 – 0
team2 = fb|ASA
goals1 = Boutsianis goal|10 goal|50 goal|84 Thompson goal|12 goal|23 goal|27 goal|29 goal|32 goal|37 goal|42 goal|45 goal|56 goal|60 goal|65 goal|85 goal|88 Zdrilic goal|13 goal|21 goal|25 goal|33 goal|58 goal|66 goal|78 goal|89 A. Vidmar goal|14 goal|80 Popovic goal|17 goal|19 Colosimo goal|51 goal|81 De Amicis goal|55
goals2 =
stadium = International Sports Stadium, Coffs Harbour
attendance = 3,000
Referee = Ronan Leaustic flagicon|TAH Tahiti

After the match

Australia continued the qualifications with a minimal 2-0 win over Fiji and 11-0 win over Western Samoa. Australia finished with a +68 goal difference (an average of 17 goals scored in a game in the groups stage), without conceding a single goal. At the final round, Australia defeated New Zealand by the aggregate score of 6-1, but were subsequently defeated by Uruguay in the OFC/CONMEBOL playoff.

American Samoa lost the final groups stage match 5-0 to Tonga. American Samoa finished with a -58 goal difference (an average of 14.5 goals goals conceded in a game in the groups stage), without scoring a single goal in the qualifications.

External links

* [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=4395/preliminaries/preliminary=3863/matches/match=22243/report.html Official match report by FIFA]