Canada And Spain Unbeaten Following First Day Of Action
Canada and Spain are the only unbeaten teams at the seventh annual NFL Flag Football World Championship at the Leichtathletik Stadion in Cologne, Germany, after the first day of play. The Ecole River Heights Middle School from near Winnipeg defeated Thailand, China and Japan in some close high-scoring games. Pere Vives Vich from Cataluña beat the Netherlands and Germany on the way to a 2-0 record.
Watch video highlights of Thursday's action on the Cologne Centurions website.
Thailand (2-1) currently holds second place in Group A, ahead of China (1-1), Japan (1-2) and Las Aguilas from Mexico (0-3), whose offense that coach Ricardo Yanez warned was off form did not begin firing until late in a 51-34 defeat to Thailand. There is a three-way tie behind Spain in Group B with USA, Germany and the Netherlands all at 1-1, while Korea stands at 0-2.
The diminutive USA team, the DAC Panthers from New York, gives up a considerable height advantage to some opponents, but scored within a minute against Suri Middle School from Korea and held on to win 25-24. A touchdown from Eddie ‘Playmaker’ Roscigno, who then made a saving tackle as time ran out, proved the decisive score. Against the Schuldorf Bergstrasse Hillsiders from Germany the Queens and Long Island youngsters struggled to cope with the partnership of brothers Max and Lukas Kleinscorge, who both stand more than six feet tall and exploited their aerial threat in a 45-24 win.
The day got off to a high scoring start when Chaopraya Wittayakom School from Thailand and Canada’s champion provided offensive fireworks in a nail-biting game that produced 119 points. Defending the world title won by their countrymen a year ago in Beijing, Thailand slumped to a 26-6 deficit, but bounced back to level the score at 52-52 late in the game. The Thais looked to have secured victory when Chinnawat Wongsuwan punched in a four-yard touchdown pass to Yutthana Ngoenmueang for a 59-53 advantage.
Canada mounted a drive that appeared to have staled until a pass interference call with 12 seconds to play and torrential rain hammering down set up a grandstand finish. A Ben Allen pass to Vincenzo Cannata tied the game and a dramatic extra point pass to Colton Farago secured victory. “It was a good day for us and naturally we’re pleased,” said Canadian coach Shawn Gretchen. “We can’t ask any more of them than to win each game. But they were close games, so we’re not going to become complacent or over confident.”
Canada faces a winless Mexico on Friday at 10.15am, eyeing a quarterfinal clash with the eventual fourth-placed team in Group B, which will become clearer when USA meets Spain and Germany takes on Korea at 9am.
Group A
Canada 3-0
Thailand 2-1
China 1-1
Japan 1-2
Mexico 0-3
Group B
Spain 2-0
Germany 1-1
Netherlands 1-1
USA 1-1
Korea 0-2
Thursday, August 24
Thailand 59 Canada 60
Netherlands 58 Korea 50
Japan 36 Mexico 18
Germany 20 Spain 24
Canada 41 China 34
USA 25 Korea 24
Thailand 34 Japan 33
Spain 32 Netherlands 20
China 32 Mexico 21
Germany 45 USA 24
Japan 46 Canada 54
Thailand 51 Mexico 34
Friday, August 25
9.00am USA vs. Spain / Germany vs. Korea
10.15am Canada vs. Mexico / Germany vs. Netherlands / Japan vs. China
11.30am Spain vs. Korea / Thailand vs. China / USA vs. Netherlands
12.45pm 5th vs. 5th (best of 3 games) / Quarterfinal (1st B vs. 4th A) /
Quarterfinal 2 (1st A vs. 4th B)
2.00pm Quarterfinal 3 (2nd A vs. 3rdB) Quarterfinal 4 (2nd B vs. 3rd A)
Saturday, August 26
11.30am Loser QF2 vs. QF4 / Loser QF1 vs. QF3 / 5th vs. 5th (best of 3 games)
12.45pm Semi final 1 (winners QF1 vs. QF3) / Semi final 2 (winners QF2 vs. QF4) /
Game for 7th place
2.00pm Game for 3rd place / Game for 5th place / 5th vs. 5th (if necessary)
4.00pm Final (winners SF1 vs. SF2)