UPFROnT
FourFourTwo December 2021 27Rangers 2-0 Parma
August 11, 1999 Champions League qualifier
“Parma had an excellent team, with past and future
World Cup winners like Lilian Thuram, Gigi Buffon and
Fabio Cannavaro – a couple of years earlier, they just
missed out on the Serie A title. We won 2-0 at Ibrox
and I got one of the goals, which was the third game
in a row that I’d scored in! It was a huge achievement
playing against one of the best sides in Europe. I still
remember Ibrox rocking that night – it was a special
atmosphere. Parma’s players stepped onto the pitch
in disbelief about the noise and it clearly intimidated
them. The fans carried us for 90 minutes, and we only
lost 1-0 in the second leg to go through. That was an
unbelievable moment for that Rangers side.”
USA 2-1 Jamaica
October 7, 2001 World Cup qualifier
“This was a very emotional evening. The pressure was
building up ahead of this game, and we really didn’t
want to lose it – it was the first match we’d played as
a national team following 9/11. I was the captain, got
an assist and we won with two Joe-Max Moore goals
to clinch our place at the 2002 World Cup. We scored
the winner nine minutes from the end, sending all our
fans into a frenzy. Coach Bruce Arena told us shortly
before kick-off that our troops had just advanced into
Afghanistan, so it definitely mattered leading up to it.”
Sunderland 2-1 Leicester
April 1, 2002 Premiership
“I scored twice in this game! One from a free-kick and
another with a half-volley. It was the first time I’d ever
got a double in the Premiership, which is a hard thing
to do. We had a good team that season and managed
to stay up. I’ve seen both series of Sunderland ’Til I Die
on Netflix and absolutely didn’t enjoy them, although
it’s well made and rare that a professional side allows
camera access like that. But it just shows how the club
was run into the ground, and how traumatised all of
the supporters have been. I remember some of them,
and overall Sunderland fans were great to me and my
family. I had a wonderful time there and they deserve
much better. I hope they’ll be back in the top division
sooner rather than later.”
Mexico 0-2 USA
June 17, 2002 World Cup last 16
“I was captain of the team yet again, and we beat our
arch-rivals for a place in the World Cup quarter-finals
- the furthest the United States have ever progressed
in the modern age of football [after a semi-final spot
in 1930]. Mexico topped their group ahead of Italy and
were big favourites, but we defied the odds. We were
very well organised and played together. I was part of
the build-up for the first goal scored by Brian McBride,
together with Josh Wolff – I work alongside Josh now
at Austin, as he’s the first manager of the side we put
together for our inaugural MLS campaign of 2021. But
this was the proudest day of my international career.”
Martin Harasimowicz
In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west
of the International Date Line, a little bit of
footballing history was made recently.
The formation of the Marshall Islands Soccer
Federation has ended the country’s status
as the only nation on Earth never to have had
a football association. There had never been
a Marshall Islands Greg Dyke, or Faria Alam, or
even Bert Millichip.
Even Vatican City and Monaco could boast
‘national teams’ that compete outside of FIFA
circles, but the Marshall Islands – a group of
atolls and islands positioned between Hawaii
and the Philippines – had resisted the allure
of the beautiful game with the exception of
informal tournaments held on Kwajalein Atoll,
a US military base. Winners included Shamrock
Rovers (presumably not the side from Dublin),
FC Swell, a team simply called ‘Fish’, and the
cryptically named ‘Nutmeg...Sub!’
Bizarrely, a fake ‘Marshall Islands Football
Association’ page had appeared on Facebook
shortly before the real thing launched. It may
have been created by the same oddballs who
set up a website for a Nauru Football League,
which also never existed.
Given the highly challenging geography of
the Marshall Islands, which has 24 inhabited
islands or atolls, football development is no
easy task. Identifying a big enough patch of
land to plonk a pitch is only getting harder,
with the islands at risk from rising sea levels.
But the need to find sporting opportunities
for young people is clear – the islands werefound to be the fourth-most obese nation on
Earth in 2016. The new Soccer Federation has
kicked off operations in the capital of Majuro,
where half of the 60,000 population live, with
a series of kickabouts in Delap Park (sadly not
named after Stoke’s long-throw legend Rory).
There’s a plan for school and adult leagues,
and a stadium expected too, as the Marshall
Islands prepare to host the Micronesian Games
in the summer of 2022.
“First, we want to promote the wellbeing of
our kids,” explains federation vice-president
Divine Waiti. “Then, we aim to participate in
regional and international matches. We aim
to become an associate member of the OFC,
and perhaps join FIFA.”
The Marshall Islands Soccer Federation has
burst onto the scene at an interesting time:
numerous small island countries are crafting
football programmes and hoping to secure
the attentions of Oceania’s federation. The
sport is growing in the Federated States of
Micronesia, Palau and Nauru, while Niue had
its own strange exchange with the OFC after
relaunching a programme that had remained
dormant for years.
It emerged that Niue had been an associate
member of the OFC for more than a decade,
but basically been forgotten about. After telling
the federation that football in Niue was active
once again, they were instead informed that
they’d be expelled for inactivity. The Niue Bert
Millichip was doubtless unimpressed.
Paul WatsonTHE FInAL FROnTIER
Only one country in the world had never had an FA – until now
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