The great 17-year, 30-match Samoan soccer losing streak is over

There was great anguish in Samoa recently over the behavior of its national rugby team coach (it cost him 100 pigs). But all has turned to joy with news that Samoa’s national soccer team has done the impossible — they’ve won a game. With its 2-1 victory over Tonga on Tuesday in Oceania World Cup qualifying, Samoa broke a 30-match losing streak … which began in 1994.

And here’s the reception the team got when it returned home.

American Samoa, tied for 204th and last in the FIFA world rankings, had been outscored 229-12 since starting international play in 1994, including a world record 31-0 defeat to Australia in a World Cup qualifier in 2001. Twelve of the losses had been in World Cup qualifying in which they had been outscored 129-2.

The team is coached by Dutch native Thomas Rongen, who was fired as the U.S. under-20 national team coach in May, and hired to coach the Samoans in October.

“Maybe we have a chance to do something special here beyond this one game, but let’s enjoy this one right now,” he said.