Having never played together as a full squad until a training camp in Guam, and traveling to the games with kit donated by their hosts, they made their competitive debut in international football at the 2015 Pacific Games with a view to using the tournament as both a development opportunity for young players in the country and also as the first steps towards gaining official recognition from and membership of FIFA.

Despite the unofficial nature of their record defeats, numerous international media outlets have branded them the worst football team on the planet.

[6] However, before the tournament, Kiribati withdrew, Guam chose not to send a team and the Northern Mariana Islands were unable to send a team as their regular squad was playing in the EAFF East Asian Cup, leaving non-FIFA member Palau as the only international representative and Micronesia competing as separate states.

Despite initial claims that the team should not be underestimated and that they were not simply there to make up the numbers,[18] their performance was to be the worst on record for international competition.

[23] However, this result did not replace the American Samoa match in the record books firstly as Micronesia are not affiliated to FIFA and secondly as the competition, since it is doubling up as a qualifying tournament for the 2016 Summer Olympics, is being contested by under-23 teams.

[27] The reasons for the size of the defeat have been put down to the general lack of experience within the diminished squad as a whole, with most of the players only getting involved in the game at most eighteen months prior to the tournament starting.

[29] With Micronesia having lost so heavily in their opening games, Vanuatu were faced with the seemingly difficult task of having to score a minimum of thirty goals in order to stand a chance of progressing to the next round of competition.

[31] Tony Kaltack increased his tally by a further five goals in the match, Bill Nicholls and Barry Mansale scored ten and six goals respectively while Dalong Damalip's hat-trick, Abraham Roqara's two and one each for Brian Kaltack, Nemani Nikiau, Zicka Manuhi and Chris Andrews rounded out the scoring.

[8] To put into context the series of defeats his team had suffered, Foster said that for many of his players this was the first time that they had played a game on a full-size 11-a-side pitch.

[36] Despite conceding a record number of goals, and with media outlets labelling them the worst team in the world,[2] many of the outfield players were heartened by the cheers their goalkeeper received every time he made a save.

[36] The major stumbling block facing Micronesia is, if they do not gain FIFA affiliation, then their next scheduled international match will not be for another four years, when they will travel to Samoa for the 2019 Pacific Games.

[8] International media however was less complimentary, with numerous outlets focussing solely on the results and labelling the side the worst football team on earth.

On Yap people were pleased simply because the players had had the chance to travel abroad and experience international competition, with such opportunities normally being limited to Guam if at all.

[39] The Oceania Football Confederation had dissuaded Micronesia from applying to their association, saying that they would have better developmental opportunities within the AFC,[12] although with FIFA having more Pacific members than the United Nations, affiliation with FIFA is also not assured; they have cancelled previous visits and rejected membership of other nations in the past due to the level of hotel facilities on offer.