The side made history four years ago when they won their first match of a FIFA World Cup Qualfiier, defeating Tonga 2-1, and came within one match of qualifying for Stage 2 before going down 1-0 to Samoa who progressed instead.
Godinet believes the team has learned from that experience and have the ability to go even further this time around.
“After that game in Samoa, we looked at it and asked the coach Thomas Rongen what happened and he knows, he said the game could have ended up 0-0 but he took the gamble and he wanted the players to push forward,” Godinet explains.
“We’ve gone back to the drawing board and know what we want to do, what we need to prepare and I know that Samoa, Cook Islands and Tonga are also preparing themselves and they’re very good teams too and I’m looking forward to a very good tournament in Tonga.”
The side will be without Rongen this time due to his commitments with North American Soccer League side, Tampa Bay Rowdies.
“We made some communication with Thomas but he’s not available at this time, he also has some responsibility at this time with football in the US,” Godinet says.
“But the assistant coach to Thomas his name is Larry Mana’o, he’s now coaching the team and he’s very familiar with them. He was also the coach of our U-17 in January.”
A large contingent of the 2011 side will make their return to national service which Godinet says gives the team a good base to have built their preparations on.
“We have some new players, it’s the first time that they will represent American Samoa but the majority of the team are local players that have played with the team before and travelled on to the US for a better future,” he says.
“Nicky Salapu is still our goalkeeper and Jaiyah Saluah is working with the team. Almost 75 per cent of the team is still made up of players which were in the last World Cup qualifier that was in the documentary but left here to move to the States. So now they all came back to work together with the team.
“We’ve trained and worked with the coach, our executive committee has worked together with the manager and the players and I can tell you what’s important is what’s on the field. I think with this team that we’ve prepared, we feel comfortable that they will probably take us one more step.
“On behalf of myself and the executive committee we’re all very excited and we’re excited about this team, as far as I’m concerned it’s better than the one we put out before. I have confidence that our team will make it through.”
Following a prolonged training camp in Seattle, USA the side has returned to the Pacific and are gearing up for a friendly against Fiji before they head to Tonga for the qualifier.
Godinet says it will be a good test of the side before they get down to business.
“Our warm up game in Fiji is very important to us,” he says, “We’re praying, we have faith in our players.”
The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ Qualifiers OFC Stage 1 will take place in Tonga from 31 August to 4 September.
For more on American Samoa football visit www.ffas.as

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