The United States of America, who invented the great game revolving around scoring touchdowns with the pigskin, now lost to both Japan and Austria in the U20 International Federation of American Football World Junior Football Championship tournament.With this year's event being held in Alberta, Canada, Team USA didn't necessarily have home field advantage, but with that being said America has been playing the sport of football for the last 150+ years.
Then when looking at other countries around the world, up until recently, they barely knew what football was, as they are used to another kind of football (soccer). So for every international tournament, America should be the favorites to win, especially considering the talent we see in the NFL and NCAA, which undoubtedly cannot compare to anywhere else in the world.
With that being said, the United States started off the IFAF World Championships beating Panama 86-12. Then in the semi-final round, something unthinkable happened, Japan beat America in football... and it wasn't even close.
Japan won 41-20 against the U.S. national team, and with many fans referring to this as the worst defeat since Pearl Harbor, it's really mind-boggling to think that this could happen, especially considering that American football isn't even in the top 10 most popular sports in Japan.
As a result of the loss, the Americans were forced to play for bronze, and things actually got worse from here.
The Austrian football team beat the United States 32-25 to win the bronze medal at the 2024 IFAF U20 World Championship.
This is the first European team to win a medal in the history of the international football competition.
This might go down as one of the most embarrassing events in American history, as most Europeans have never even seen a football in real life.
With all the talent in high school and college football in the states, one has to wonder how the players for the team are chosen. That is to say, the recruiters and scouts for the Team USA football team may be fired after this.
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