World Cup countdown: Australia beat American Samoa 31-0 | OneFootball

The World Cup qualifiers are a strange beast. Especially if you’re a country like Australia.

Back in 2001 they were still in the Oceania Qualifying Zone so had to regularly come up against the likes of Tonga and Fiji.

And American Samoa.

April 11 of that year will go down in history as the heaviest defeat in international football ever, and we doubt it’ll ever be beaten.

The Socceroos come up against the tiny island nation and absolutely trounced them 31-0.

Yes. 31.

Amazing, Australia didn’t actually score their first goal until the 10th minute. Forward Archie Thompson scored 13 of his 28 international goals that day – equalling the record for the most goals anyone has ever scored in a senior match.

It would have huge consequences for world football as well. Australia weren’t even happy winning the game by such a big margin – they argued that they couldn’t keep playing at such a low level.

It led to the introduction of a preliminary round in the Oceanian zone, and helped Australia secure a move to the Asian Football Confederation in 2006.