The Guam men's football team has made an emphatic start to the East Asian Cup, crushing the Northern Mariana Islands 4-0 in their opening match in Mongolia.
Ryan Quitugua, Devan Mendiola, Isiah Lagutang and 16 year old Kyle Halehale made their international debut for the Matao in Ulaanbaatar on Sunday, with 19 year old Mendiola opening the scoring in the 13th minute.
Matao striker Marcus Lopez (9) scored twice against CNMI. Photo: Facebook/Mongolian Football Federation
Marcus Lopez and Jason Cunliffe combined to score the next three goals to give coach Karl Dodd a winning start in his first match in charge.
"We are using this tournament to implement our new playing style in competitive matches. I thought that the players executed this well for 70 minutes of the game and then we became inconsistent toward the end," Dodd told the Guam FA website.
"This is all part of the learning process of a new playing philosophy and we are on the right track - as long as we can improve each game, then we are on track."
Hosts Mongolia outclassed Macau 4-1 in the other first round fixture, with the overall winners to join Chinese Taipei, North Korea and Hong Kong in the second round of the East Asian Cup in November.
The Matao face Macau in their second match on Tuesday while the Guam national women's team, the Masakåda, play Macau in their opening round fixture later today.
![Karl Dodd [R] played for both the Phoenix and Roar teams during his playing career.](https://media.rnztools.nz/rnz/image/upload/s--qUtDqOuS--/ar_16:10,c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,q_auto,w_288/v1643442843/4O05DF0_image_crop_50960)
