Guam falls to Maldives 1-0 in WCQ Round 2 opener

[September 6, 2019 – Harmon, Guam] Guam’s constant attack through the second half fell short as the Maldives desperately held on to its one goal advantage to take three points in the teams’ opener of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 at the Guam Football Association National Training Center Thursday.

Maldives took the early lead in the 26th minute when Ibrahim Mahudhee finished a low cross past Matao goalkeeper Dallas Jaye.

“It took us a long time to get going and start playing football,” said Karl Dodd, Matao head coach, during the post-match press conference. “Not starting to play until the second half is not good enough.

“You’re dealing with two nations, especially Guam, that doesn’t get a lot of exposure to national team football, and games. When you have regular games at a professional level, you’re a lot more confident going into a game, it’s just another game. When you have long breaks between games and you don’t play enough, that first game is always tough.”

Following Thursday’s match, Maldives returns home to face China, PR, while Guam regroups to play a home match against the visiting Philippines Azkals on Sept. 10. The Guam-Philippines fixture will kick off 3:30 p.m. Sept. 10 at GFA.

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.

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