EPIC! “Top 5 Biggest Victories In International Football”

There are many crazy score-lines in International football matches. This is because of the unbalanced quality of the teams that are put together in 1 group for the World Cup Qualifiers or for the Euros and Copa America Qualifiers. Due to this, many fans and pundits are questioning UEFA and FIFA to change the format of the draws so that teams with equal quality face each other.

This has been up for debate since a few years now and fans are hopeful FIFA and UEFA will do something about the format of international football qualifications in the future. There is a feeling that these high scoring games are fun to watch for neutrals but in reality, these games offer nothing in terms of development of the game and the development of the players. Fans as well as pundits feel these games are a waste of time and that the players get these games to stat-pad their goal tallies and assists.

Anyways, this topic will clearly be up for debate for years to come. For now, we as fans can just enjoy these high scoring games as neutrals and hopefully see our favourite team win by the biggest of margins.

Top 5 biggest wins in International Football:

5. England Women’s Team 20-0 Latvia Women’s Team

England’s huge win over Latvia surpassed their previous biggest win- a 13-0 victory against Hungary in 2005.

It was always going to be a one-sided game but very few would have predicted that this game would have 20 goals. There were 10 different goal-scorers as Beth Mead of Arsenal and Alessia Russo of Manchester United scored hat-tricks. Lauren Hemp scored four goals too.

But all the eyes were on Ellen White who also scored a hat-trick and went on to become England Women’s all-time leading goal-scorer with 48. She surpassed the legendary Kelly Smith’s record of 46 goals to get her name in the record books forever.

Though it was a good game for the neutrals, England Manager Sarina Wiegman was not happy after the game as she thought that games like these do no good for the development of the women’s game. She stated,” The fear is the gap is increasing between the countries. FIFA and UEFA have a dilemma on their hands. Every country should have an equal right to qualify for major tournaments, but countries being humiliated on a global stage every international football break is not good for players or viewers watching at home”.

4. Canada Women 21-0 Puerto Rico Women

England’s recent win over Latvia looks emphatic, but it was not the biggest margin of victory in a Women’s World Cup Qualifier.

Canada scored 21 goals past Puerto Rico in the 1998 CONCACAF Women’s Championship. This match was a goal fest but sadly, not many people know about this game as it was not aired in many parts of the world. This was also due to the fact that the women’s game was not that famous in the 1990’s and was still developing.

Canada Women’s team then went on to beat the Mexico Women’s team 1-0 in the final of the tournament to secure the only automatic place for the 1999 Women’s World Cup.

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3. Australia Men 22-0 Tonga Men

Australia had a very good campaign during the qualifying phase for the 2002 World Cup. They looked unstoppable and many considered them to be the underdogs to reach the latter stages of the World Cup. They played attacking football and were good defensively too.

The Socceroos broke the record for the biggest margin of win in a men’s qualifying twice in the space of just 2 days. The first time came against Tonga, where they blasted 22 goals past the Tonga net. John Aloisi scored 6 goals, while Damian Mori and Kevin Muscat scored 4 goals apiece.

2. Tahiti Men 30-0 Cook Islands

Tahiti were one of the favourites to win the 1971 South Pacific Games as they were the hosts of the tournament and they also used to play fluid attacking football.

The fans of the nation really started believing in the team when the team scored 30 goals in a single match against a very weak Cook Islands side. They were strong defensively and did not hold back in the scoring front too. They had the momentum to go on and win the tournament after the game against Cook Islands.

However, they did not manage to go and win as they were beaten by New Hebrides 2-1 in the semi-final. Even though they bowed out of the tournament, they gave the fans a lifetime of memory and the team got the whole nation together.

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1. Australia Men 31-0 American Samoa Men

Many football fans from around the world thought that the game against Tonga was a one-off and that the scoreline would never be repeated in world football again. However, just two days after thrashing Tonga, the Socceroos set another record for the largest victory in an international men’s football match as they won 31-0 against American Samoa.

Archie Thompson scored an unbelievable tally of 13 goals in the game, breaking the record for most goals scored by a single player in a match.

This match led to debates amongst the fans about the format of the qualification tournaments, with many people suggesting that measures should be introduced to avoid unbalanced matches.

Here is a table for the top 5 biggest wins in international football:

Rank	Team Name	Score
5	England Women Vs Latvia Women	20-0
4	Canada Women Vs Puerto Rico Women	21-0
3	Australia Men Vs Tonga Men	22-0
2	Tahiti Men Vs Cook Islands Men	30-0
1	Australia Men Vs American Samoa Men	31-0