For the first time in their history,\u00a0Team Germany\u00a0has beaten an\u00a0American\u00a0national squad as they defeated the\u00a0USA,\u00a0represented by the\u00a0United States Federation of American Football, 14-13 at the\u00a0World Games\u00a0in\u00a0Wroclaw, Poland, in a game which should not have been that close.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0USFAF\u00a0team, which almost did not make it to the\u00a0World Games, was put together, literally within a couple of days.<\/p>\n
With barely one practice under their belts and a roster which was below the minimum 45, a rag tag\u00a0United States\u00a0team took the field to face a well-prepared\u00a0German\u00a0team \u00a0in the middle of the regular season in\u00a0Germany.<\/p>\n
And it showed as\u00a0Team Germany\u00a0controlled much of the play. Nevertheless,\u00a0Team USA\u00a0battled.<\/p>\n
After a quiet first quarter, in which\u00a0Germany\u00a0missed a chance to take the lead on a missed field goal,\u00a0Team Germany\u00a0opened the scoring. Quarterback\u00a0Alexander Haupert\u00a0connected with 6\u20199\u2033 wide receiver\u00a0Aurieus Adegbesan\u00a0on a 43 yard touchdown pass and\u00a0Thomas Rauch\u00a0kicked the extra point to give the Germans a 7-0 lead.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0United States\u00a0responded on the next series with quarterback\u00a0Dustin Hawke Willingham,\u00a0who was struggling to find any kind of rhythm,\u00a0finally finding\u00a0Terry Gaitor\u00a0for a 47 yard touchdown.\u00a0John Moorhead\u00a0kicked the extra point and the score was tied at halftime.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Americans\u00a0entered the third quarter with some momentum and began to take charge as\u00a0Hawke Willingham\u00a0led his team on a long drive, capping it with a 26 yard touchdown to\u00a0Tyrell Banks\u00a0giving\u00a0Team USA\u00a0a 13-7 lead. The missed extra point proved to be crucial.<\/p>\n
With\u00a0Haupert\u00a0replaced at quarterback by\u00a0Sonny Weishaupt, Germany\u00a0began to take control in the fourth quarter.\u00a0Weishaupt\u00a0finally led his team on an extended drive, finishing it off with a 28 yard touchdown pass to\u00a0Kwame Ofori. Thomas Rauch\u00a0kicked the extra point to take a 14-13 lead.<\/p>\n
Team Germany\u00a0then held on for the win.<\/p>\n
Turnovers proved to be costly for\u00a0Team USA\u00a0as the\u00a0American\u00a0quarterback\u00a0threw four interceptions.<\/p>\n
This was not the first time a\u00a0USFAF\u00a0team has lost to\u00a0European\u00a0competition. In 2012,\u00a0Team Denmark\u00a0defeated them 49-20.<\/p>\n
In the second semifinal,\u00a0Team France\u00a0defeated\u00a0Poland\u00a028-2.\u00a0Germany\u00a0will face\u00a0France\u00a0in the gold medal final on Monday, July 24 while\u00a0Team USA\u00a0will play\u00a0Poland\u00a0in the bronze medal game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the first time in their history,\u00a0Team Germany\u00a0has beaten an\u00a0American\u00a0national squad as they defeated the\u00a0USA,\u00a0represented by the\u00a0United States Federation of American Football, 14-13 at the\u00a0World […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-without-sidebar.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n