A new national team emerges on the football map! The squad plays its first ever match
Liam Garcia
Dailysports's expert
For a long time, the Marshall Islands remained the only country without a national football team, despite football being a popular sport there. But at last, that has changed.
Details: In 2020, the Marshall Islands Football Federation was founded, and five years later, its team played its debut match. National teams from the US Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos traveled to Springdale, USA. The fourth participant was the youth team of the local club, Ozark United.
The historic opening match against the Virgin Islands ended in a 0-4 defeat, but in the second game against Turks and Caicos, the Marshall Islands celebrated their first ever goal. It was scored by Josiah Blanton, a 23-year-old defender for Ocean City Nor'easters, who play in the fourth tier of US football. However, the match finished in a 2-3 loss.
Reminder: Now, the Marshall Islands Football Federation faces a long road to integration into the global football community, as it is not yet a member of either FIFA or the Oceania Football Confederation.
