Japan Wins Bronze

It was the hard-fought close game everyone expected. And for the 3rd time in four World Cups, Japan managed to edge Mexico to win the medal.

Mexico surprised some by coming out in the I and were able to move the ball across midfield. Some poor openfield tackling hurt Japan throughout the game, allowing QB Rodrigo Perez to escape on a 3rd and 5.

Both defenses have prove unassailable on the perimeters.

With 5:00 to go in the half, Japan finally scored on a 15 yard scoring run from QB Tetsuo Takata. On the drive, Takata completed a 27-yard pass to Ken Shimizu, and was helped out by a personal foul called on R.G.B. Lopez.

Diego Viamontes took the ensuing kickoff up the field, and then down the right sideline. When he shifted gears, the Japanese kick coverage was outleveraged, and he took it 82 yards for a TD to tie the score at 7-all.

2 series later, Takeshi Miyake intercepted a Perez pass at the 45 and returned it to the 24, and a penalty for out hiting out of bounds took the ball to the 12. Daisuke Aoki's 23 yard field goal wit 0:35 remaining in the half gave Japan a 10-7 lead.

This in spite of the fact that Japan managed only 18 yards on the ground and 61 in the air, compared to 52 and 111 for Mexico. But Mexico's 7 penalties for 67 yards swung things in Japan's favor.

Japan took the opening drive of the 3rd quarter 60 yards. From the Mexico 19 takata completed a burst corner eoute to Maeda for a TD to make it 17-7.

On Japan's next drive, they began a 9-minute 18-play drive from their own 30 to the Mexico 4 yard line- the key play being a fake punt on 4th and 7 from the 35 with Shun Sugawara completing an 18 yard pass to Michihiro at the end of the 3rd quarter. On 3rd and goal, a reverse pass by Ogawa back to Takata was snuffed out, and the chip shot FG was missed.

Mexico promptly moved from their own 20 drove to midfield mixing runs and passes, and apparent trick play TD pass to Heriberto Salazar was ruled an illegal forward pass. Perez and Salazar finally did get the TD from 10 yards out, to tighten things up at 17-14 with 3:54 remaining.

Japan strung together a couple of first downs, before Mexico was able to stop them around midfield, using up all their time outs.

Mexico started their final drive at their own 20. Daniel Rolsen made it up the sidelines to the 40 on 2nd down.

Perez crossed midfield, and was hit out of bounds giving Mexico the ball at the 35 with 12.5 seconds left. An out was ruled incomplete, and Mexico lined up for a FG with 8.9 seconds left. Fearing a fake, Japan called their final TO.

But when the kick attempt finally came, it was blocked, and Japan escaped with a 17-14 victory.

Mexico finished with 299 yards in total offense, compared to 253 for Japan,. Mexico's defense held Japan to 58 yards on the ground on 22 carries.

Day 6 - Graz

In a game that was close in just about every way, Team Canada beat Team Japan to win Group B championship and a birth in the finals against the USA on Saturday. This will be the first time since the Word Cup of American Football began in 1999 that Japan will not be in the final. They won the championship in 1999 and 2003.

Canada was on the board first, as they put together a 59-yard drive on their first possession, mixing runs and passes, before QB Michael Faulds hit Michel-Pierr Pontbriand from 2 yards out to go up 7-0.

Naoki Maeda returned the ensuing kickoff to the 40, and QB Tetsuo Takata drove them down the field on throws to Noriaki Kinoshita and Michihiro Ogawa and a big 17 yard run from Tomokazu Sueyoshi. yasuhiro Maruta carried it over from the 1 to tie the score with 2:14 to go in the quarter.

Japan next tried on on-side kick which failed, giving the Canadians great field position, but they were unable to capitalize. The teams kept exchanging possession until late in the 2nd quarter, when a Canadian drive that began at their own 22 was capped by a 4 yard TD run by David Stevens with 1:29 remaining. Stevens had 5 carries on the drive for 46 yards.

Maeda's return to the 37 gave Japan decent field position. Takata passed them down the field, including a 38 yarder to Ogawa, and a 15 yard TD pass to RB Takuya Furutani on a wheel route to tie it up at 14-all with 0:32 remaining in the half. But Faulds was able to put the Canadian in scoring position in 3 plays to the 16, and Lirim Hajrullahu kicked a FG to make it 17-14 at the half.

At that point Canada had the advantage in possession (33-22) and total yardage 186-169, the majority of it on the ground. Walters had 50 yards and Stevens had 48. Takata was 8-11 and 101 yards, and 1 TD for Japan. Ogawa had 4 catcehs fir 71 yards.

To open the 2nd half, Takata took Team Japan from the 24 to the Canada 6, where Daisuke Aoki kicked a FG to tie the game again at 17-all. Koki Kato intercepted Faulds on the next series, and had the ball at the Canada 32. They were able to pick up another first down, but had to settle for a 29-yard FG from Aoki to take a 3 point lead with 1:30 left in the 3rd quarter.

On the final play of the quarter, Faulds completed a 28 yard pass to Pontbriand. On 2nd and 11 from the 17, Faulds completed a pass to Shamwad Chambers. Atsushi Tsuji was able to strip the ball, but Johmeek Murray was ble to recover the ball to retain possession for Canada at the 3. Walters scored on the next play, and it was 24-20.

Both teams went 3 and out on their next couple of possessions, and Japan took over at their own 11 with 8:10 remaining. Japan to 7 plays to go 89 yards, helped by a roughing the passer penalty, and when Sueyoshi scored with 5:38 left, Japan had retaken the lead, 27-24.

Canada responded immediately- in what was acknowledged as the play of the game, when Faulds had to scramble, Stevens freed himself down the sideline for a 72-yard gain, stopped just short of the goal line. It took three attempts by Walters to score, which he finally did with 3:31 remaining, to make it 31-27.

Kato was only able to return the kickoff to the 5, which meant Takata had to work from his end zone. With 4th and 7 from his own 8, Takata was able to run for the 1st down. But they were able to get no further than their 16, and when Ogawa was unable to get a handle on the 4th down pass, Canada had the ball on downs with 1:34 left, kneeling down on 4 straight plays.

Japan did get the ball with 0:10 left at their own 25, but Takata was intercepted to seal the victory for Canada.

After receiving 230 penalties for 146 yards on Monday against Austria, Canada was able to reduce that to only 20 yards on 3 penalties. Japan also had 3 for 22 yards. Other statistics were also close- Japan outgained 349 to 328, mostly due to a 224 to 197 advantage in passing, going 20-34-1. Faulds was 14-21-1. Canada outgained Japan on the ground 131 to 125.


In the evening game, Austria seemed to dominate in the first half, outgaining France 131 to 54, but was only able to manage a field goal. France came back in the 3rd and scored 17 points in less than 3-1/2 minutes on passes to Anthony Dable and Jeremy Rbot and a FG from Bruno Nekili. A fumbled kickoff return by Armando Ponce De Leon was huge. France added another TD on a 22 yard pass from Max Sprauel to Rabot with ten minutes left in the game to go up 24-3. Sprauel was 10-20-1 and 3 TDs, and avoided being sacked.

Austria fought back with Thomas Haider releiving Cristoph Gross, as Haier fired a 28 yard TD to Jakob Dietlinger and a 22 yarder to Andreas Proeller with 3:31 left. Gross was only 8-22, and Haider finished 9-18 with 2 interceptions and 2 sacks.
Once again it was an enthusiastic Austrian crowd that made a lot of nosie, but was obviously disappointed by the home team's 3rd loss. They will Face Australia on Friday for 7th place. France will meet Germany on Saturday in a rematch of last year's European Championship, which was won by Germany 26-10.

Day 5 Innsbruck

In a game much closer than many had expected, Germany held off Australia 30-10.

Big passing days for both QBs- Kernan Dorney went 19-31-0 and 281 yards and 3 TDs for the Aussies; meanwhile Joachim Ullrich was 17-29-1 and 2 TDs and 280 yards passing for the Germans, including a 50 yard touchdown pass to Niklas Roemer who caught two and caught 8 passes for 153 yards on the day.

Germany added 216 yards on the ground compared to 62 on only 12 attempts for Australia. The size of the German lines, and 102 kg Jerome Morris made the difference. Waldemar Shcander carried 13 tiimes for 84 yards, and Danny Washington and Morris each carried for 59 yards.



Germany head coach Marshall Happer praised his opponent: "My hat goes off to the Australian team. Anyone that knows Australian sportsman know that they are people that fight to the bitter end. Certainly we knew that they would never quit and showed that they have a lot of heart."

Australia head coach John Leijten said: "The way we fought in this game and how close it was, is a win for Australia. I am very happy with the outcome of the game. Germany is a strong team. You come in here and play the US first, Mexico second and Germany third. There is no easy game here. We put our resources into this game that we could battle and hang in there."


It was the first win in the tournament for Germany; Australia is 0-3.

Day 4- Group B, Game 2 @ Graz

Japan Downs France 35-10

Japan was clearly the superior team, but definitely gave an uneven performance. Some dazzling runs and catches by Naoki Maeda, Michihiro Ogawara, and Ryoma Hagiyama and 73 yards in kick returns by Noriaki Kinoshita overcame an offense that had some good drives, but sputtered occasionally.

Japan's defense was able to bottle up the run for most of the game.

In the second half, France picked up their tempo ans was able to move the ball but as the approached the red zone, repeatedly hurt themselves with mistakes, including consecutive 15 yard penalties to take them out of scoring range. They finished with 10 penalties for 81 yards, and 191 yards total offense, while the Japanese had 352 yards, 237 of it in the air.

Co-MVPs for the game were French QB Maxime Spraule who went (21-33-0) and 233 yards passing; and 42 year young Yasuo Wakisaka who is appearing in his 4th World Cup for Japan.

Japan used their Fly Sweep to get outside, and some effective downfield passing. Japanese QBs Takata and Sugawara went 8-12 and 7-10 respectively.

In the evening game, Canada moved into Austrian terrritory on their first drive, but then stalled. A late hit on their next punt return gave them the ball at the Austrian 34, Michael Pontbriand ripped off a first down, but then fumbled the ball.

Canada received the ball at midfield on a punt for the 2nd time. On 2nd and 13 from their on 48, QB Micahel Faulds fired a perfect strike to Scott Valberg down the right sideline, and it was 7-0 with 5:28 to go in the 1st quarter.

A 32 yard catch and run by Matt Walters put Canada up 14-0. Walters finished with 9 carries for 73 yards, and another 32 yards on 3 catches, scoring 1 TD each.

Late in the half, Gross completed a 54 yard bomb to Jakob Diepplinger set them up at the 13 with half a minute to play. Two consecutive passes to the corner of the end zone were open, but went off the hands of the receiver. On 3rd down, Gross through an interception into the hands of Joel Lipinski, and Canada ran out the clock.

After taking over at midfield (again!) on an interception, Canada began a penalty plagued drive, Canada finally scored from a yard out to make it 21-0.

Canada seemed to be vying with Mexico for the penalty crown, as they amassed 146 yards on 20 penalties. This created a lot of long yardage situations, which they were able to get out of more often than not through significal RAC yardage.

Late in the 3rd Quarter Austria started a drive at its own 42. Going for it on 4th and 10, Gross found Dieplinger on a perfect post for a score to make it 21-7 with 10:01 remaining and the Austrian crowd went nto a frenzy that lasted throughout the 4th Quarter.

But in spite of incredibly loud support that lasted nearly a half hour after the game had finished, Austria was not able to score again.

Faulds was able to find Shamwad Chambers on the next drive wih a 47-yard TD pass, and Canada was able to add another to go up 34-7. They went for 2 and were sueccesful, continuing a disturbing trend.

Canada had just over 400 yards in total offense, as Faulds finished 17-24-0 and 233 yards and 3 TD. Gross was 10-25-2 and 156 yards.

Austria will take on France on Wednesday; Canada will face Japan to determine the Group B champion. Group A champion will be determned tomorrow when Mexico meets Team USA in Innsbruck.

Both of Friday's winners in Group A on Friday held form Sunday, on fine summer day in front of seven thousand fans, as Mexico and Australia faced off in the afternoon, and Germany met Team USA in the evening.


Mexico had a rather easy time with an Australian team that seemed a bit worn down. They scored late in the 1st quarter on a 4 yard Barrerarun, and followed that with a 76 yard flea flicker from Rodrigo Perez to Jose Antonio Alfonso.

Perez was 18-24 for the half, Mexico led 28-0 at halftime, out-gaining Australia 349 yards to 48.

Australia looked somewhat shell-shocked. They had suffered a 61-0 drubbing by Team USA on Friday.

More personal fouls does nothing to diminish Mexico's "bad boy image". They finished with 148 yards on 16 penalties.

Some were also perplexed by Mexico's decision to go for after a TD put them up 51-0. The attempt to run wide was adequately defensed, but Erick Arzate was able to take it up through a tired line for two points. Coach Rivera said something about needing to put it in, but that earlier in the game was too risky. (???)

After a FG and a Safety made it 58-0 Australia provided a brief moment of excitement for its fans as S Tautinoga Masaga Faletaogo intercepted a Mexican pass with less than 2 minutes to go, but as he crossed midfield lost control of the ball, giving Mexico another possession to score their last to make it 65-0.


The second game was more entertaining, and the game was closer than the final score indicates.

Turnovers and special teams played a big part in this one too:
Germany was able to stop a US drive midway throught the 1st period and started a small drive of their own. Germany lined up for what would have been the first points in the game a 3-0 lead, but Jordan Lake was able to block the kick, DL Johnnie Dingle scooped it up and carried it 75 yards himself for a 7-0 USA lead.

The next drive was mostly Nate Kmic, on passes in the flat, over the middle, or carrying the ball. Hawkins hit him on a crossing route that was stopped just outside the endzone, so coach Tjeerdsmann let him carry it in on the next play to make it 14-0.

Openfield tackling proved problematic for the German squad, as the US gained a lot of return yards, as an interception and returm by Myles Burnsides helped atone for a helmet-to-helmet penalty on the previous play. Kmic later scored from 5 yards out. He was later named game MVP

A late hit out of bounds and roughing the passer on 3rd and long took Germany to the US 24.
UB 24 yard TD pass on a streak from Joachim Ullrich to Christian Bollman to make it 21-7 with 1:15. An excessive celebration penalty, gave the US good field position, and they drove down to the 12 fo, r an apparent FG. But after a time out to "ice the kicker" holder Cody Hawkins picked up the ball and threw to Richie Brockel as time expired for a 28-7 US lead at the half.

Maurice Banks ran back an interception of an Ulrich pass 77 yards for a touchdown midway through the 3rd quarter and it was 34-7.

The Germans went 3 & out on their next possession, but when the snap went over the punter Dennis Wiehberg's head, he kicked it through the end zone. In the earlier game, the Australian punter had done the same thing, and was penalized with a safety, but prevented Mexico from an easy touchdown. The difference here was that wiehberg kicked the ball out from his own 4, and so was punished with a loss of down and half the distance to the goal, giving the US the ball inside the 2 yard line, from whence DeShawn Jackson scored on the next nn the next play.

On the next series, Ullrich completed a pass to Jerome Morris who was hit and dislodged from the ball, which was scooped up by Terrence Jackson and run in from 10 yards out for the final score.

Morris, who was born in Texas, lay on the field motionless for several minutes, was taken from the field on a stretcher and to the hospital for examination, but coach Marshall Happner later said that Morris was conscious and has movement in his extremities.

While the 48 hour turnaround was difficult for both teams, both seemed somewhat sharper than their first game. On Tuesday, Germany plays Australia and Mexico meets USA for the Group A title. Based on their division standings, teams will meet members from Group B this weekend in Vienna.