Taking baby steps toward the big leagues

"We are still exploring all available options to us," Owers says. "OFC and AFC are both viable options. We hope to progress into more talks during 2024 but at this stage we are still in the planning phase to ensure that we are fully prepared."

The preparation has begun, with soccer officials in the country and Owers planning a grassroots-level entrance into the sport via the country's schools.

"The soccer federation has already agreed with the ministry of education to add soccer to the school sports curriculum alongside volleyball and basketball," Shem Livai, president of the Marshall Islands Soccer Federation, told the AP. "To enable school teachers to deliver high-quality coaching sessions we will be training teachers to be qualified soccer coaches through a combination of online and in-person courses."

Livai says there are about 6,000 children who live on Majuro Atoll — the largest and capital island — and about 12,000 children are spread across all of the islands.

"Eventually we want them all to have the opportunity to play football or futsal," Livai says.

Owers, who is very active on social media, is doing his part, posting a request for his followers to donate balls, bibs, cones and goals to help out the fledgling program in the Marshall Islands.

Otherwise, Owers' highly technical posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, might leave all but seasoned soccer followers, players and/or the sport's tacticians baffled.

The Marshall Islands, about 4,300 kilometers northeast of 2032 Olympic host city Brisbane, Australia, has a long history with the United States, and Owers thinks that might be a plus in soccer becoming popular there.

After gaining military control of the Marshall Islands from Japan in 1944, the US assumed administrative control of the islands following the end of World War II.

The economy of the Marshall Islands is still closely linked to the US and its gross domestic product is derived mainly from US payments — the US Army garrison on Kwajalein Atoll is the No 2 employer in the islands behind the Marshall Islands government.