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Team USA rolls to 55-0 victory that looks like bad video game
By Jonas Fortune
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
CANTON: When it was revealed that Team USA was using video games to prepare for the 2009 IFAF Junior World Championship, who would have thought the transition to the field would be so literal?
One quarter into Team USA's 55-0 destruction of Mexico at Fawcett Stadium, in front of 11,218 fans; the statistics were already ridiculous.
By that time, running back David Wilson had already taken the second play of the game for a 50-yard touchdown run.
''Good handoff,'' quarterback Bryce Petty said jokingly. ''That's what I'm here for.''
About five minutes later, Wilson went into the end zone again, this time from 36 yards out. In three first-quarter carries, Wilson, a Virginia Tech recruit, was averaging 28.7 yards a carry.
''These kids do not face teams like this every day,'' Mexico coach Ernesto Alfaro del Villar said. ''They face teams like this once in their lives.''
After 12 minutes, the score was already 27-0. That was when the game was still in the ridiculous stage, it soon reached absurd. By halftime, Team USA was outgaining Mexico 262-2 in total yards and had already sacked Mexico quarterback Robert Isaias Vega five times. Vega finished the game with 57 yards on 4-of-13 passing.
''Mission accomplished,'' USA coach Chuck Kyle said. ''We disrupted his timing and that was important because he is a good quarterback. He can run and he can throw, but when a quarterback's timing is disrupted and the routes are a little disrupted that came into our favor.''
For good measure, Wilson even decided to extend the video game comparison by breaking four tackles and running over a fifth potential tackler on his way to a 25-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. He had 134 yards on seven carries at halftime.
He finished the game with 150 yards and four touchdowns on 11 carries, bringing his two-game total to 327 yards and seven touchdowns on 23 carries.
''It may appear easy, but I put in a lot of hard work on and off the field,'' Wilson said. ''There are a lot of things people
don't see. The sweat and the struggle that I go through to become a better player because each time I step on the field I want to be that much better.''
Sadly, Mexico appeared to have more talent on the field than France did last weekend. The problem was that the United States had another few days of practice together and at least one game under its belt; a bad combination for a Mexican team that blanked Sweden 41-0 on Saturday and was looking forward to a showdown with Team USA.
The United States was ahead 41-0 at halftime before they seemingly pulled back the reins.
''The kids did a great effort, but . . . they were bigger than us, so sometimes we try and we try and we try to run the ball and to throw the ball, but we had a lot of pressure all the time,'' del Villar said. ''I don't feel good. I feel frustration because things didn't work today.''
One would think Canada will provide a more formidable foe in Sunday's Gold Medal game 1 p.m. at Fawcett Stadium. It is the anticipated matchup for this tournament.
But who knows at this point?
In two games this tournament, the United States has beaten France and Mexico by a combined score of 133-0. Comparing yardage gets even more dicey. Team USA is leading in that category 1,046-42.
Jonas Fortune can be reached at jfortune@thebeaconjournal.com.
CANTON: When it was revealed that Team USA was using video games to prepare for the 2009 IFAF Junior World Championship, who would have thought the transition to the field would be so literal?
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Stow, OH
Posted 04:16 AM, 07/02/2009
I do not blame the kids who are playing, but the adults who organized this tournament should be ashamed. Challenging countries who have little or no background in American football (possibly excepting Canada) to a world championship is just plain ugly and embarassing.
Antioch, Fl
Posted 05:53 AM, 07/02/2009
Obviously some of the teams are not up to challenging the best, but it used to be this way in basketball too. You have to play the best to eventually be able to compete.
And this game was supposed to be more evenly matched. Mexico has established collegiate football teams.
Posted 08:12 AM, 07/02/2009
This "tournament" is a disgrace. I would have to seriously question the sanity of anyone, outside of family and friends, paying money to watch this farce.
KOOKville, oh
Posted 08:19 AM, 07/02/2009
I hear that next we will play Uganda. I heard they are pretty good. They have been studying American football for years. They might give us a run for our money. In turn, they will show us how to gut a zebra.
Akron, OH
Posted 09:00 AM, 07/02/2009
What is with all the whining from the commenters? Some of these countries are just looking for an opportunity to put their kids against a good U.S. team for experience. I'd put this in the same category as the U.S. in soccer a couple decades ago. We stood no chance when we played internationally, but it helped the sport to get exposure in the U.S., and helped us figure out how far we had to go to become good.
Akron, Oh
Posted 09:23 AM, 07/02/2009
Many of the statements indicate what is wrong with our country right now. To become the best, you have to beat the best. You must experience adversity and heartbreak and deal with them. Sadly, our country has decided to remove adversity and as a consequence we have become very average on the world stage.
Posted 09:48 AM, 07/02/2009
@ Think: You should take your user name more seriously.
Canal Fulton, OH
Posted 10:39 AM, 07/02/2009
At the risk of encouraging the common hobby of French bashing, the organizer of this tournament is the group known as IFAF (based in France). It is basically to American Football what FIFA is to soccer. It's only been around since 1998. The tournament at Fawcett is for "junior" teams (I believe ages 19 and younger). There is also an IFAF "World Cup" which has no age restriction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Football_World_Cup
IN the interest of fair competition I suppose, the US only started entering in the 3rd World Cup with essentially a mid-major/small college all-star team. Not suprisingly, the Americans won this championship. BUT they took 2 OT's to beat host Japan 23-20.
While it's true the US games have been one-sided in the local tournament. But most of the other games yesterday were quite competitive.
Germany 52 New Zealand 7
Sweden 24 France 14
Canada 38 Japan 35
If the goal is to make the sport more global, these growing pains are inevitible.
Akron, OH
Posted 10:39 AM, 07/02/2009
Stick to futbol.
Lorain, oh
Posted 11:27 AM, 07/02/2009
seriously, we got our butts kicked for dacades in soccer...calm down people..be happy your country is winning and quit finding 100 things a day to B$%#H about.
Mansfield, OH
Posted 01:33 PM, 07/02/2009
What about this tournament is disgraceful? I think this has many more benefits than final scores. It promotes the globalization of a sport that has usurped baseball as America's favorite and it promotes diversity in merging the youth of several countries on AND OFF the field. No one from team U.S.A. forced these teams to participate. Not surprisingly, we have the best football players in the world. We should be ashamed of that? If you're questioning the class of coach Chuck Kyle, think again. They could easily put 100 on either of the first two teams they played.
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 02:40 PM, 07/02/2009
Ironic that posters should mention "futbol" when this ridiculous tournament has received more press the US soccer teams near upset of Brazil in the Confederations Cup – an upset that woulda been 1,000x the magnitude of Joe Namath's predicted Super Bowl victory over the Colts. It is often asked why pro soccer hasn't caught on in the US. There are many reasons, but no doubt one of them is that we'd have to admit that there are teams in the world that are better than us. All the posts about US soccer painful learning process are very valid. The difference being soccer is the WORLD's game. It's played in nearly every country on the planet. And like it or not, if you win a soccer World Cup, you can truly say you're the best in the WORLD, not just in the US and part of Canada.
The kids who played have nothing to be ashamed of. The organizers do (whoever they are). And if you really need to see a football team get their @$$e$ handed to them, just go to a Browns game!
