Footballer moves to Tonga to chase World Cup dream

“I was surprised to hear that we even had a team.”

This admission comes from Maikeli Lomu, a football midfielder from Texas who sold everything and moved to Tonga to pursue his dream of playing in the FIFA World Cup.

“I was under the impression that Tongans didn't play soccer at all, because in the USA, none of them do, they all just play rugby.”

It all started with a Facebook post earlier this year by the Tonga Football Association, calling for international players.

“I was living in the US and we had recently sold a pottery studio that me and my wife ran, and so when we saw the post, I decided to sell all the rest of everything else and then my family came and joined me here in Tonga, and I got to play with the Tongan national team.”

Speaking to John Pulu on PMN Tonga, Lomu did not reveal whether he was related to late All Black great, Jonah Lomu, but said spending a fortnight in Tonga in his 20s was enough to cement his connection to the island.

“I grew up in Utah and there's a lot of Tongans there, and so I always felt really connected to the culture and to the island itself.

“The chance to come back and be part of the national team and hear the anthem and represent, it's just strengthened that bond and strengthened that connection that I felt.”

Tonga Tu'ulalupe 2024 squad. Photo/Oceania Football

The ultimate underdog

The Tongan men's team, Tu’ulalupe, had gone four years without playing a match, and Lomu admitted the team looked a bit worse for wear.

“When I first got here, I was actually kind of surprised by how many of the players on the senior men's national team had ripped boots.

“I had a family member, they bought all of the boots that we gathered the sizes for, and then my wife brought them when she came, and now they have fresh new boots.”

‘Ata ‘AJ’ ‘Inia plays for Thai League 2 side Chanthaburi, and did some training with the squad ahead of the FIFA pre-qualifiers.

Speaking to Oceania Football, ‘Inia hoped to inspire more players to consider joining, along with growing national development pathways.

“A lot of potential. The physicality here in the team is really good, very good, everyone is strong and fast.

“It’s a big jump from the level that Tonga is at now to professional level, obviously. So just lifting the intensity, making sure that our laughing, happy culture doesn’t take over too much when we cross that training line.”

Training began, and the first hurdle was the Oceania pre-qualifiers against the bottom-ranked teams. The Tu’ulalupe won against the Cook Islands but then lost to Sāmoa, taking them out of the race, but Lomu said it was an unforgettable experience.

“When I was just sitting on the field and the FIFA anthem started playing and then they played the Tonga national anthem, I started to cry because I was getting pretty emotional with how cool of an experience it was and how grateful I was to even be in that position to represent Tonga.”

Samoa won the pre qualifier and will compete in the Group B pool against New Zealand, Tahiti, and Vanuatu.

Looking ahead

Although the outcome didn’t turn out like a movie script, Lomu plans to stay in Tonga with his wife, Cassidy, and their three daughters, who are adapting to island life.

“They love trying to be Tongan kids, every time we walk out to the car they'll try and walk out barefoot because that's just what you do, you walk out with no shoes on, no matter how hot the sun is.”

Lomu said the sport and excitement around it was growing, and he hoped to be a part of it.

“There'll be another round of qualifiers in four years, so I'm going to be training every day, trying to get myself in a better position to hopefully help Tonga even more than I did this year.

“The Tonga Football Association has started a couple of programmes in the last couple of years that will hopefully start developing better and better talent here on the island so that we can hopefully send our younger kids out overseas to play, maybe in New Zealand or just in other countries.”

The first round of the FIFA group B Oceania qualifiers will start on Thursday 10 October in Suva.

Watch the full interview on PMN Tonga: