The United States men’s national team hold the advantage after day one of the IFAF Americas Flag Football Championships at the United States Performance Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Americans sit at 3-0, followed by Canada at 2-1 though both teams were made to fight for their victories on occasion.
Having beaten Argentina 56-20 in their opener, Canada put up 20 early points against Argentina, who began a comeback, trailing by only six points at halftime. The Canadians pulled away after the break to eventually win 56-20.
Canada beat Brazil 44-19 and their only loss of the day came against a USA team that had also fired 56 points in their first game of the tournament, beating Brazil convincingly while conceding 12 points.
When the North American rivals met in their second game of the day in the stifling afternoon heat it was the United States who remained unbeaten with a 36-12 victory. When the Americans closed out their three Wednesday games, they fell behind by 12 points to Mexico, but recovered in a high-scoring encounter to prevail 56-30.
Panama, Chile and Mexico all have a 1-1 record and the Panamanians started off the competition in fine form, taking a two-touchdown lead over Mexico before eventually losing 34-24.
Brazil and Chile each secured victories over winless Argentina, with Chile winning 25-6 in the last game of the afternoon. Brazil’s win had started out as a defensive stalemate between the two tallest teams in the competition until Edmar Dos Santos, Daniel Athos and Pedro Henrique Clemente Do Nascimento all produced spectacular endzone catches for touchdowns in an eventual 37-20 win.
Results
Panama 24 Mexico 34
Brazil 12 USA 56
Canada 56 Argentina 20
Argentina 20 Brazil 37
USA 36 Canada 12
Chile 4 Panama 37
USA 56 Mexico 30
Canada 44 Brazil 19
Argentina 6 Chile 25