“Recently, we are seeing English coaches furthering their horizons by traveling outside the comforts of home,” White, who spent nine years as coach of Bahamas, said by telephone from Curaçao. “They are beginning to realize that the game is global, so they must also become global thinkers. This shift of mentality is assisting in creating English coaches who will start to have more of an impact on the world game.”

It is starting to happen. Simon McMenemy, born in Scotland but raised in England, became the youngest national team coach in the world in 2010 when he took over the Philippines team at age 32, guiding it to unprecedented, albeit modest, success. Anthony Hudson, 33, is preparing for the 2015 Asian Cup after successfully leading Bahrain through qualification.

White is grateful for the opportunity that Guam provides to put into practice what he studied on the elite course that the F.A. says is open only for ambitious young coaches with an open and curious mind. It is not just about tactics, training and formations, but also about communication and managing players. In Guam, a U.S. territory, this English coach believes that one part of his success comes down to encouraging the players and the federation to embrace their local identity.

“They have their own language and culture in Guam and so now we have a chant that we perform before games,” White said. “I introduced a nickname for the team — ‘Matao,’ which means the highest of high clans that had the most honorable and strongest people. People respond to this.”

With the Asian Cup, the continent’s flagship tournament for national teams, set to expand from 16 to 24 teams in 2019, the ambition for the island is clear — to qualify and face regional giants like Japan, South Korea and Australia. Such success would not make many international headlines but would be a stunning achievement, and if it helps improve the perception of English coaching, then so much the better.