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To their credit, Mexico was able to collect five times as many yards as France did against the Americans earlier this week. Unfortunately, that still only amounts to 35 yards of total offense, not nearly good enough to beat the USA who put up 41 points at the half en route to a 55-0 win. The US moves on to the finals of the Junior World Championships to take on Canada for the right to be called the best in the world.
Though, based on what we've seen so far, that's not exactly saying much.
The Americans have outscoured their two opponents 133-0 so far and about the only blemish on the tournament has been a sizable amount of penalties. But that's just nitpicking really because there isn't much else to criticize.
Good news/bad news in the form of running back David Wilson. Good news is that Wilson tore it up again in this game for 146 yards and 3 TDs, which gives him 327 yards and 7 TDs total. Bad news is, he committed to Virginia Tech, whom Syracuse plays again starting next season. Harrumph.
Speaking of Syracuse, incoming Orangeman Shamarko Thomas returned an interception for a touchdown, one of three defensive touchdowns on the day.
The Canadians advanced to the finals by inching past the Japanese team 38-35. Japan had rallied from a 31-21 deficit but was unable to finish the upset. While the win was emotionally-thrilling for the Canadians, it doesn't bode extremely well given how well the Americans have played. I mean, look at what the US did to Mexico and Mexico beat Sweden 41-0. Thank God we didn't play Sweden, otherwise we might be at war with them right now.
The highlight (or lowlight) of the experience was discovered thanks to Dan who found out the game was being live-streamed on the Interweb. If by chance you are available on Sunday to watch the championship game, I highly recommend you tune in. The play-by-play commentators are bad. I mean Best In Show bad. So bad they actually started openly apologizing at one point. It's really something to witness.
For the record, Sweden also beat France 24-14 and Germany handed New Zealand their 2nd-straight loss by at least 45 points, making their trip the least enjoyable out of everyone. France and New Zealand will play Saturday for the right to prove who is the worst nation in the world at American Football. Catch the fever!