Asia World Cup Qualifying First Round Spotlight: Guam vs Singapore
On Oct. 17, the afternoon sun shone on the Guam men's soccer team's home field, where a fierce battle was about to take place. Guam and Singapore met in the first round of the Asian World Cup qualifying tournament. After some ups and downs, Singapore with a surprise goal, with a score of 1-0 to complete the "double kill" of Guam, the total score of 3-1, successfully advanced to the next round. They will be divided with China, South Korea, Thailand in the same group, while Guam became the first Asian team not to reach the final round of the 2026 World Cup.
With the expansion of the World Cup, the Asian qualifiers have been adjusted accordingly. In the first stage, 20 teams competed in two rounds, and the final 10 were born, and then joined with the top 27 teams in Asia to form 36 teams to enter the second stage of the competition.
This is a highly anticipated matchup where the winner of Singapore and Guam will have the opportunity to challenge our national team. Singapore narrowly won 2-1 at home in the first round, and if they remain undefeated in the second round, Guam will go out of the tournament with their hopes of advancing to the next round dashed.
Singapore is ranked 157th in Asia and Guam is ranked 201st, the "bottom two" in Asian soccer. Back at home, Guam was eager to even the score. However, the gap in strength prevented them from doing so. At the end of the second half, Guam's own goal was set up by a Guam player, and they lost 0-1 to Singapore.
With this, Singapore easily eliminated Guam with a 3-1 aggregate score and advanced to the second stage of the Asian Zone Qualifiers, the 36-team tournament. They will be placed in Group C, the same group as our national team, and their group opponents have all been confirmed.
