Marshall Islands Historic First International Friendly

This was the moment that the citizens of the Marshall Islands had been waiting for. The last known nation to not have a football team on any level has now officially played in its first-ever match in a four-team tournament friendly, as they battled against a member of CONCACAF, as they took on the U.S. Virgin Islands. After the 90 minutes were up, it would be the Dashing Eagles that took the victory by a final socre of four goals to nil.

In an article by Gayla Dimitrova of the BBC, the Marshall Islands were taken down by a hat trick from Rakeem Joseph, who scored in the 3rd, a penalty in the 42nd and his final tally in the 61st minute. Gabriel Catone-Highfield finished it off in the 80th minute. While it’s sad for the new upstarts not to get the result, they felt pride within themselves to participate in such a historic moment for their country.

The islands that are in the South Pacific between Hawai’i and the Philippines played their first match in the United States in Springdale, Arkansas, as they represented around 40,000 people in the Marshall Islands to perform in this match. They have an inscription after the match during a team photo, “Whatever the score, so proud of what was accomplished. Tonight, we made history”.

Their next match will be against another CONCACAF opponent in the Turks and Caicos. We will see how that one will fare, but now their next decision is which confederation they will attempt to join for their international designation. Some would think it would be Oceania, but you never know if they might try becoming a part of CONCACAF. We shall wait and see when the news does come.