Official Site of MISF

Technical Director Lloyd Owers is nation’s first-ever national team manager calling upon the experienced Justin Walley, Dean Johnson, Matt Perrella as his assistants – supported by a backroom team of Tony Theomae and Jack Hutchinson

The Marshall Islands is the last country on earth to have never played an international football match. That unwanted statistic is about to be deleted from the history books in August when the Marshall Islands take on FIFA nations Turks and Caicos, and the US Virgin Islands in the Outrigger Challenge Cup, which they are hosting in Springdale, Arkansas, USA, between August 13-16. Local USL side Ozark United U19 will also play in the tournament following the withdrawal of FIFA nation Guam.

Current Technical Director Lloyd Owers is the man tasked with leading the Marshall Islands national team for its debut games. The Englishman has played a pivotal role in establishing the country’s first structured football pathway. From a standing start, he has helped implement grassroots to elite-level programmes, introduced regular weekly participation for youth and senior players, and developed both male and female player pathways in soccer and futsal. He also oversees the national Coach Education structure, helping to upskill local coaches and ensure sustainable development of the game. Owers has coached in the UK, USA, Canada, Sweden and the Marshall Islands, with his background including the English Football Association, Chelmsford City, Mansfield Town, Colchester United, and Oxford United, and is a UEFA A Licensed Coach with a Master’s Degree in Performance Coaching.

Lloyd Owers has announced a team of three assistant managers, a dedicated team of professional analysts, as well additional coaching support from the National Futsal Team.

Assistant National Team Managers Dean Johnson, Matt Perrella and Justin Walley bring a depth of coaching knowledge and experience to the Marshall Islands National Team set up.

Justin Walley has already been with the Marshall Islands Soccer Federation since late 2022, when he teamed up with Lloyd Owers and Matt Webb to help aid the development of the MISF. As well as coaching for the MISF in the Marshall Islands, Walley is the former National Team Manager of Matabeleland and has also won a Premier League bronze medal as Head Coach for Riga United Ladies in the Women’s Latvian Premier League, while also coaching for two clubs in Latvian League 2 (Riga United and FK Aliance). Walley was Coaching Development Director for CONIFA and also had a stint in Sierra Leone with the Craig Bellamy Foundation, as well as working as the Assistant Director for the city of Nottingham at Euro 96 in England.

Dean Johnson brings over a decade of US coaching experience across NCAA Division I & II, NJCAA, USL League Two, and elite international tournaments. 

Dean, who has a USSF B License, currently serves as Associate Head Coach for Loyola Marymount University’s NCAA Division I men’s soccer programme, and was previously the Head Coach of Des Moines Menace (USL League Two). In 2022, he guided the Menace to an undefeated regular season, a Deep North Division title, and a run in the U.S. Open Cup, earning him the USL League Two Coach of the Year award. Dean’s international credentials include being Head Coach for Inter Milan’s squad in the TST (The Soccer Tournament), a prestigious $1 million winner-take-all seven-a-side tournament held in North Carolina. Dean’s playing career included time with Tottenham Hotspur Academy, Dagenham & Redbridge FC.

The Marshall Islands’ first-ever National Team Goalkeeper Coach is Matt Perrella, who is also one of three Assistant National Team Managers. Perrella has coached NCAA D1 teams Drexel University and St. Joseph’s University and led Ocean City Nor’easters USL2, to back to back Division Titles. Perrella was also the Matabeleland National Team Goalkeeper Coach alongside Liverpool Legend Bruce Grobbelaar at the 2018 CONIFA World Football Cup in London, where he had previous experience working with fellow Marshall Islands Assistant Manager, Justin Walley. Matt Perrella’s professional playing career includes Newcastle United Reserve Team, Carolina RailHawks (NASL), Philadelphia Union/Bethlehem Steel, Pittsburgh Riverhounds, as well as Harrisburg and Milwaukee in the MASL.

The Marshall Islands coaching team is further supported by Tony Theomae, the Republic of Marshall Islands Men’s National Team Futsal Head Coach, who is currently the lead coach on the ground in Majuro for the players based in the nation’s capital. Tony is a Solomon Islands national but has been working as a school teacher in the Marshall Islands for over 7 years, in which time he has been instrumental in developing the sport. He is our primary coach for both adult and youth sessions.

We also welcome Jack Hutchinson into our backroom team. Jack’s involvement is special as his place is a reward from pledging towards our Kickstarter. That’s not to say he’s not here without merit, alongside running a successful business, so will be active in assisting with logistics and overseeing team equipment; he is increasingly active with his online project “Football Legionnaires” – helping to identify potential recruits for football associations around the world by digging into players’ heritage to find nations they could represent other than their birthplace; which ties neatly with the MISF project potentially identifying new overseas based talent in the future.

Technical Director and National Team Manager Lloyd Owers has also brought in an experienced team of analysts to support the nation’s efforts ahead of its first-ever national team matches against the US Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos, in August.

National Team Lead Analyst Mike Wheeler has worked with Oxford City and National League North side Chorley, as well as the British Army U23 team.

Goalkeeper Analyst Ross Mitchell has worked  freelance with teams and players across the Scottish Leagues to provide them with tailored opposition scout reports, while Analyst Ronan Manning is a recent US university graduate with experience as a performance analyst at the collegiate and USL levels, specializing in data and set piece analysis.

The coaching team are sponsored by SortitOutSI.

We’ll be revealing our playing squad soon…