Team USA demolishes Japan 59-12 for American football gold medal

Team USA showed the enormous gap between itself and the rest of the world in America's most popular sport, demolishing its closest competition Japan, 59-12, in the gold medal game of the IFAF (International Federation of American Football) World Championship.

The Americans dominated all tournament long. The U.S. had already beaten Japan 43-18, and managed to win even more convincingly this time around. They turned heads with an 82-0 win in the semifinals over France, a team which had beaten Australia by 50 points, which had in turn beaten South Korea by 41.

NFL, CFL and Division I players are unavailable for the tournament, so the USA roster consists of recently graduated college players hoping to impress professional coaches with their play in the tournament. The team was coached by former Colorado and Boise State coach Dan Hawkins.

This year's tournament took place in Canton, Ohio, the first ever rendition of the tournament held in the United States. Japan won the first tournaments in 1999 and 2003, but America hadn't sent a team to those tournaments. Team USA started sending teams with the 2007 championship, and although Japan took them to double overtime in that year's gold medal game, the Americans remain undefeated in IFAF play.

Coming in just behind the United States this year, Japan took silver for the third straight tournament and Mexico took bronze, its first medal since the United States began competing.

Some stats from America's tournament:

• Team USA outscored its opponents 214-36, with an average scoreline of 52.5-9.
• Team USA outgained its opponents 1855 to 672, over 1,000 yards differential in just four games.
• Team USA's opponents ran for -11 yards during the tournament. Team USA ran for 869.
• Team USA scored 29 touchdowns, including five defensive touchdowns. They allowed four touchdowns total.
• Team USA punted seven times in four games.

★★★