Team Mexico has arrived in Finland and will finally have the chance to play when they face Team Australia in the first game of the IFAF Women’s World Championship’s second day of competition.
Australia lost to Team Canada 33-6 on the opening day of the WWC. The Aussies made it interesting, and the game was a tie in the first quarter, but the Canadians finally wore them down.
Mexico did not even get a chance to play their opening game against Great Britain. The team was stranded at the Mexico City airport without tickets due to a funding scandal and had to forfeit the game. Tickets were finally arranged, and the team arrived to the tournament in groups on July 31st, and August 1st. They have no chance of earning a medal,
so they will be playing for national pride.
Team Australia @ Team Mexico, Aug. 3, 09:00 CET (9 am, 12 midnight ET Aug. 2)
Mexican HC Jovanni Carrillo’s offensive attack will be led by running back Andrea Romero, who emerged as a star at the 2017 IFAF WWC. Apparently, the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Americano has not even been able to get a roster to IFAF or SAJL, since no other information is available.
While they are out of medal contention, Carrillo remained upbeat in speaking to reporters:
“We are here and we are going to win those two games. The players are well concentrated and motivated.”
Game one Team Australia MVP wide receiver Jordan Di Mizio caught seven passes for 52 yards and a touchdown. She also carried the ball four times for 33 yards, and will once again lead the Australian offense, Quarterback Isabella Paholek completed eight passes for 86 yards, and threw the scoring pass to Di Mizio. On defense, Dania Herdman and Laura St. Ruth led the way against Canada with 8 and 6.5 tackles, respectively.
Australian HC Kevin Wilson said that his team must “Make sure we hit the ground running”. He wasn’t deterred by the loss to Canada:
“We certainly weren’t broken. There’s just a few little things we need to fix, and we will get those better with more time on the field together.”
The game will be a rematch of the 2017 second day match that saw Mexico win their first international competition. Team Mexico managed to defeat Team Australia 31-6 in that game. Canada’s victory over Australia was by a similar score as in 2017, so it remains to be seen if history will be replicated in Finland.