Nicky Salapu

Nicky Salapu (born September 13, 1980) is a former American Samoan footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He previously played for PanSa East from 2000 to 2008 and 2008 to 2011, then he left them to sign for Mitra Kukar in 2012. He played in American Samoa's 31–0 loss to Australia, where he was the only player from the senior squad remaining after the rest of the squad was ruled ineligible due to holding Samoan, rather than US, passports.[2][3][4]

Nicky Salapu
Personal information
Full name Nicky Vitolio Salapu
Date of birth (1980-09-13) September 13, 1980[1]
Place of birth Pago Pago, American Samoa
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2008 PanSa East
2008–2011 SC Mauerbach
2011–2012 PanSa East
2012–2013 Mitra Kukar
2013–2019 PanSa East
International career‡
2001–2019 American Samoa 22 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of July 18, 2019

Salapu played in the OFC FIFA World Cup Qualifications for World Cup 2002 and World Cup 2006. American Samoa lost all of these eight matches, and conceded 91 goals.[5]

Salapu was the goalkeeper, under whom the American Samoa National Football Team registered their first ever official FIFA World Cup qualifiers win. After the game, Salapu said: "I feel like a champ right now. Finally I'm going to put the past behind me."[6]

His stint with the American Samoa national team was covered in the 2014 documentary Next Goal Wins, and the 2023 biographical comedy-drama also called Next Goal Wins.

Club career

Salapu played for PanSa East for eleven years, beginning in 2000 and terminating in 2008. In 2012 he went to play for Mitra Kukar, a club playing in the Indonesia Super League (ISL), which is a fully professional football competition as the top tier of the football league pyramid in Indonesia.

International career

Salapu conceded 31 goals to Australia in a World Cup qualifying match on April 11, 2001, and the score Australia 31–0 American Samoa still counts as the official world record.[7][8]

In 2007, Salapu missed his flight from Hawaii to the South Pacific Games in Samoa. Because he could not make it on time, he was replaced by the 17-year-old Jordan Penitusi. He was not eligible to play until he arrived for the last match of American Samoa in the South Pacific Games with Tonga, but there he was an unused substitute.[9] In November 2011, Salapu was the goalkeeper when American Samoa won its first ever full FIFA match, a 2–1 win over Tonga during the first round of the OFC qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[6] In 2015, he was called up as substitute goalkeeper for the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers.

He represented American Samoa at the 2019 Pacific Games in Apia.[10][11] Salapu has been selected for the American Samoan team at the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara.[12]

Career statistics

International
American Samoa[13]
YearAppsGoals
200140
200210
200440
201180
201950
Total220

See also

References
  1. "Nicky Salapu". FBRef. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  2. "Australia 31-0 American Samoa: The loneliest game in history". FourFourTwo. April 9, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  3. "31-0: The scoreline that made American Samoa famous". Football Bloody Hell. March 2, 2019. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  4. "Nicky Salapu, la redención del portero humillado" (in Spanish). Libertad Digital. April 11, 2021. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  5. "Nicky Salapu, el portero que más motivos tuvo para odiar su trabajo (pero que no lo hizo) #Díainternacionaldelportero". Toni Cruz. April 14, 2017. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  6. Montague, James (November 23, 2011). "American Samoa, Winless and at Bottom of Rankings, Wins a World Cup Qualifier". The New York Times. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  7. "31-0 – The plight of American Samoa – Back Page Football". Back Page Football. March 13, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  8. Cockerill, Michael (November 25, 2011). "Finally making history for all the right reasons". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  9. Mark Gleeson (August 29, 2007). "Coach of world's worst team must grin and bear it". Reuters. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  10. "INTERVIEW: American Samoa's Nicky Salapu and Jaiyah Saelua on their love of the game". Football in Oceania. July 10, 2019. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  11. "American Samoa men's National Team ready to play". Samoa News. July 7, 2019. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  12. "More than 20 years after his Australian nightmare, keeper's enthusiasm for representing American Samoa shows no signs of wavering". ABC. December 9, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  13. Nicky Salapu at National-Football-Teams.com
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