Grant Wieman
Guam men’s national team midfielder Ryan Guy lined up for a free kick from 19 yards from the Iran goal in the match’s 70th minute. He approached with intent to shoot but pulled up at the last moment, opening a lane for reserve striker Ian Mariano to get a free look at the net. Mariano’s shot cleared the wall of defenders, and after them soared over the Iran goal.
The attempt was as close as Guam got to a highlight in their 6-0 FIFA World Cup Qualifying match against Iran at the Guam Football Association National Training Center on Tuesday.
It was a disappointing loss, which in itself shows how far the team has come.
“This would have been a celebration five years ago, to keep a team like Iran under 10 goals,” Matao head coach Gary White said. “We are established now as a mid-tier team. We were always a lower-tier team and to me, to be a mid-tier team in Asia, out of 47 countries, really shows the ability we have in this country.”
Mid-tier is not Iran and the top-ranked team in Asia showed as much on the field, scoring goals in the 12th, 32nd, 49th, 52nd, 53rd and 63rd minute.
Iran was bigger, faster and more experience than Guam, and while the team wouldn’t admit as much, keeping within striking distance at halftime was a tremendous accomplishment for the young, inexperienced team host a 2014 FIFA World Cup participant.
Neither team was at full strength for the game — visa issues, suspensions and injuries prevented that — but Guam was hit particularly hard on defense. Center backs Brandon McDonald and A.J. DeLaGarza missed the match and Iran consistently scored on crosses from the middle of the field.
Mason Grimes was among those tasked with filling in for McDonald and DeLaGarza on defense.
“We had some young guys and young guys had to step up,” Grimes, 23, said. “It’s not the result we wanted but we’re just trying to learn and improve.”
By the 70th minute the chance of an upset was gone so the team’s goal shifted to respecting themselves and the home crowd.
White subbed in Mariano and Dylan Naputi, locally-produced players who had the support of the team and the Matao fans.
“I think that was the momentum we needed. It really changed things. We almost scored immediately from it,” White said. “We wanted to score not only for ourselves to get our heads up a little bit, but also for the fans, give them something to cheer about.”
Moments after Mariano and Paulino subbed into the game, the Matao earned their best chance of the game.
Shane Malcolm, the team’s fastest player, took off in a sprint through the middle of Iran’s defense and brought in a forwarding pass. As Malcolm received it, the Iran keeper, Ali Reza Beiranvand, plowed through him and picked up a red card.
“I just wanted to give the fans something to cheer about and give (Iran) something else to worry about besides just attacking us the whole time,” Malcolm said. “I kind of started playing that (scoring) role.”
Beiranvand’s play earned him a red card, but the collision occurred just outside the box. Rather than being award a penalty kick, the Matao had a free kick opportunity around a wall of defenders.
The team leaders — captain Jason Cunliffe and midfielder Ryan Guy — considered the moment, the crowd and their players on the field, and drew up a set piece that would be Guam’s best chance to score against the No. 43 team in the world.
“Ryan and Jason were talking about it and they decided they wanted to put me on top,” Mariano said. “We were trying to get the crowd behind us. We were trying to use that momentum from that situation; to use the crowd’s momentum to bring us alive.”
Mariano aimed top shelf, near post, and tried to bend his shot around the wall of defenders and past backup goalkeeper Sousha Makani. The shot, Guam’s last of the game, soared a few feet over the net.
For the final 20 minutes, Iran did what it could to hold possession, burning out the remaining clock to take their comfortable win without disrespecting their hosts.
It was a lesson for Guam and showed just how far above the rest of the Group D field Iran is from Oman, Turkmenistan, India and Guam.
Guam beat India and Turkmenistan in home matches against them this June and drew with Oman, the second-highest ranked team in the WCQ group.
“I think what (Iran) showed today is why they go to World Cups and why Oman doesn’t,” White said. “It was a good lesson again for us today. There was times when we did some really good stuff but we went up against a powerhouse.”
Guam will not play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Their elimination was solidified with the loss, but their seven points in seven WCQ games has assured the team will play in the 2019 Asian Cup. They’ll host three home games in that tournament, beginning in 2017.
“For us to qualify for the next phase of the Asian Cup is a massive achievement,” White said. “Maybe, in the next few years, we can start looking toward the World Cup and the next stage, but the players have achieved so much in such a short period of time.”