Samoa national football team

The Samoa national association football team (Sāmoa soka au) represents Samoa in men's international football and it is controlled by the Football Federation Samoa, the governing body for football in Samoa. Samoa's home ground is Toleafoa J. S. Blatter Soccer Stadium in Apia. It was known as the Western Samoa national football team until 1997. Although they had not taken part in the first five editions of the South Pacific Games, their geographical proximity to Fiji, host of 1979 South Pacific Games, allowed them to participate for the first time. They lost both group stage matches to Wallis and Futuna 3–1 and Solomon Islands 12–0. Four years later, as hosts of the 1983 edition, they beat American Samoa 3–1, drew 3–3 with Tonga and fell again to Wallis and Futuna, but the results allowed them to advance to the next round. In the quarterfinals, Tahiti eliminated them by beating them 2–0. Samoa entered qualification for the 1988 Summer Olympics however they were defeated by New Zealand over two legs, losing 7–0 at home before being defeated 12–0 in Auckland. In the playoffs for the next round Samoa lost to Taiwan 5–0 and were eliminated. In 1994 they hosted the first edition of the Polynesia Cup, where they beat American Samoa, tied with Tonga and lost to Tahiti to finish in third position. In 1998 they were third again, coming within a point of the Cook Islands in second. Samoa returned to finish third again in the 2000 edition by beating Tonga and American Samoa, but losing to the Cook Islands and Tahiti. After four tournaments absent, they returned in the 2007 South Pacific Games as hosts. They managed six points by beating Tonga and American Samoa again, but were eliminated after being losing to the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. In 2011 it hosted the OFC Nations Cup qualifying tournament. There, they beat the Cook Islands 3–2, drew 1–1 with Tonga and defeated American Samoa 1–0 to qualify for the first time in their history. At the championship proper, they were beaten 10–1 by Tahiti, 5–0 by Vanuatu and 9–0 by New Caledonia.