Dodd is believed to be the only Australian head coach of a FIFA national men’s team other than Graham Arnold of Australia.

Interestingly, Guam may face another former A-League ‘Aussie’ in Iain Ramsay, who has been playing for his nation of heritage the Philippines in recent years.

The question is, can the Micronesian island cause an upset in the hothouse of Beijing or against talented Syria?

“One of the things about football,” Dodd told FTBL, “is that anyone can beat anyone on their day.

“Yes David could beat Goliath, but it also could go the other way. It’s a one-off game which is nerve-wracking.

“As a nation, we’re continuing to improve, that’s all I ask for. Make each game better than the last.

“We want to represent Guam with pride.”

Guam’s last game was pretty special.

A 5-0 rout of Bhutan that turned around a 1-0 away deficit., 

It showed Dodd, who brought in McBreen for the games, that with belief, his players can punch above their weight.

“We’ll plan accordingly, and now it’s up to us how hard we want to work, how bad we want it.

“Where they take it, the players, it’s in their hands. They know the minimum expectation from me.

“And the positive is, these are joint World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers.

“Are we ever going to be able to compete against the likes of Japan? Australia? The top nations? There are a lot of limiting factors."

Guam is ranked 190 but caught the eye after reaching the final 40 in Asia.

Dodd added: “It’s an awesome challenge, just sad it doesn’t happen enough.

“The question is, can we punch above our weight."