Dodd releases Matao roster for September WCQ matches

[September 2, 2019 – Harmon, Guam] Guam National Team Head Coach Karl Dodd recently released his final 23-man roster of players called up to the Matao for this month’s FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 home matches at the Guam Football Association National Training Center.

The Matao will open Round 2 against the Maldives at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at GFA and will play again five days later against the Philippines Azkals. The Guam-Philippines fixture will kick off 3:30 p.m. Sept. 10 at GFA.

“As the program continues to develop and with players coming through the youth programs, it increases the competition for places (on the team) even more,” Dodd said. “This competition for places from within the current squad and now players graduating through the youth program forces all players to work even harder to apply themselves more at training and during games in order to earn a spot on the squad and even harder for a spot in the starting eleven.

“Having this competitive environment is key for Guam football to continually evolve. It is now making it very hard for coaches to select players for matches, which is a great headache to have,” Dodd added.

Making the final cut are goalkeepers Dallas Jaye, Bijan Gloston, and Sean Evans and field players Mark Chargualaf, Joey Ciochetto, Michael Crowley, Jason Cunliffe, Marlon Evans, Nichika Fermin, Dominic Gadia, Kyle Halehale, Isiah Lagutang, Nate Lee, Marcus Lopez, Shane Malcolm, Ian Mariano, John Matkin, Devan Mendiola, Dylan Naputi, Shawn Nicklaw, Travis Nicklaw, Takumi Odell, and Ryan Quitugua.

Of the 23 players, 15 return from the squad called up to play against Bhutan in the tournament’s Qualification Round 1. Guam defeated Bhutan 5-1 on aggregate to advance to Round 2. Cunliffe scored a hat trick in Guam’s 5-0 home match win and Lagutang and Malcolm also scored.

Tickets are on sale at the GFA Main Office to watch this month’s matches. Category 1 tickets are $25 each and Category 2 tickets are $10 each. Category 3 tickets are $5 each. The GFA Office is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. particularly for ticket sales except on match days. On match days, only tickets for the featured match will be sold at the gate beginning at 1:30 p.m. Only cash payments will be accepted at the gate. A Bank of Guam ATM will be available for use at GFA on match days.

Confirmed concessionaires at GFA during the matches are Fizz & Co, Hafaloha, and Jamaican Grill, as well as Budweiser beer gardens.

For security measures, spectators will be restricted from entering with prohibited items. Prohibited items include umbrellas, whistles, megaphones, large, unwieldy objects, hydroflasks, outside food and drinks, firearms, incendiary devices, illegal items, and others. A non-exhaustive list will be placed at the gate entrances for reference.

Round 2 matches will continue through to June 2020.

Guam scheduled home matches are:

• Guam vs Maldives: 3:30 p.m., Sept. 5 at GFA
• Guam vs Philippines: 3:30 p.m., Sept. 10 at GFA
• Guam vs Syria: 3:30 p.m., Oct. 15 at GFA
• Guam vs China, PR: Mar. 31, 2020 at GFA

Guam’s scheduled away matches are:

• China, PR vs Guam: Oct. 10
• Maldives vs Guam: Nov. 19
• Philippines vs Guam: Mar. 26, 2020
• Syria vs Guam: Jun. 4, 2020

For more information about the matches, call 637-4321 or send an E-mail message to [email protected]