Courtesy: http://www.guampdn.com

Guam pulls out of tourney

By Jill Espmritu

Even after receiving notice of advancing to the 2006 Fidiration Internationale Football Association World Cup preliminary round to compete within a pool of 31 other Asian countries, the Guam Football (Soccer) Association decided to pull out of the competition.

"Under the grouping, we would have to play four home and away matches," GFA secretary-general Mike Bordallo said. " It would have cost at least $150,000. We could've been drawn with countries as far west as Saudi Arabia. We'd be paying the cost of hosting matches and also transportation of our athletes to the other country. We weren't ready financially.

"The board looked at the opportunity to play futsal in April in Macau. The players are mainly from the same pool, so it's basically opting for one competition over another," he added.

Guam passed the first stage of the qualifying rounds and advanced to the preliminaries after Nepal dropped out last month. After Guam withdrew from the competition, Laos -- dubbed the "lucky loser" -- advanced to the preliminary round, according to the Football Asia Web site. Although Laos fell to Sri Lanka in the first stage of the qualifying round, the Southeast Asia country was the lone losing side to earn a point. Laos battled to a 0-0 tie with Sri Lanka during one of its direct encounters, earning one point, the Web site states. Laos will take Guam's place in the next round.

"I don't feel too bad," said former Guam national soccer team member Jack Kido. "The other Asian teams are 10 times better than us. The caliber of those teams is so much higher.

"I think the federation made a good decision (in withdrawing from the qualifying rounds). It will save the federation a lot of money. The money the federation saved could be used to assist the under-16 and under-19 national teams instead. I think it's better to send the kids to Korea, Japan or other countries to get experience and develop," the 30-year-old added.

Of 204 teams, the Guam national soccer team is ranked 201st. Nepal is ranked 164th in the world, according to the FIFA Web site.

The GFA may hold an under-14 soccer festival next year and also will be sending the under-19 women's national team off island to compete.