As the Tahiti squad prepare for one of the biggest games of their lives in the Confederations Cup, many are predicting a resounding defeat as they square off the current World and European Champions.
It occurred to me that I know next to nothing about the country, so here's a list of:
10 Facts you should know about Tahiti:
- The Tahitian FA was founded in 1938, which is older than Iceland (1947) and Tunisia (1956).
- Tahiti are ranked 138th in the world, just in front of Afghanistan and St Lucia.
- Their biggest win is 30-0 against the Cook Islands in 1978. However they were beaten 10-0 by New Zealand (2004).
- Tahiti are available at odds of odds at 250/1 at some betting chains ahead of their game against Spain.
- The Tahiti manager Eddy Etaela said he "would be happy with one (goal)" even if Spain score twenty.
- Nine of the squad are unemployed, according to their manager.
- Tahiti's national ground 'Stade Pater Te Hono Nui' only has a capacity of 10,000.
- They have dropped goalkeeper Xavier Simon after his error-prone display against Nigeria. It will probably be his last ever appearance.
- Tahiti have a tiny population of around 200,000 which severely limits their ability to field professional footballers.
- Tahiti are the current Oceanian football champions, defeating New Caledonia 1-0 in the OFC final. This is how they qualified for the 2013 Fifa Confederations Cup.
Well, that's the list, hopefully you learned something new, I did doing the research!
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