United States national American football team

The United States national American football team is the official American football senior national team of the United States. It is controlled by USA Football and competed for the first time in the American Football World Cup in 2007. John Mackovic, former coach at Wake Forest, Illinois, Texas, Arizona, and the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League, led the 45-man roster, which was made up of college players who completed their senior year in 2006. USA Football is a full member of the International Federation of American Football.

2007 IFAF World Cup

During the 2007 IFAF World Cup the United States claimed dominance in American Football as it staked claim to the 2007 IFAF World Cup title. On July 10, the USA won their first game ever, a 77-0 smashing of South Korea in the first round of the tournament. In the second round team USA defeated Germany 33-7. They played Japan on July 15th for the championship and beat the two time defending champions in double overtime 23-20. The United States took the World Cup Title with relative ease with the exception of the overtime clash with Japan and have a perfect 3-0 record in international play. As a result of their World Cup title the Americans lead the IFAF World Rankings.

1. USA2. Japan3. Germany4. Canada5. Mexico6. Sweden7. Australia8. Denmark9. South Korea10. Italy11. Uruguay12. Spain13. Austria14. France15. Finland16. Thailand17. Netherlands18. Russia19. Switzerland20. Israel21. China22. Belgium23. Czech Republic24. Ireland25. Moldova26. Montenegro27. New Zealand28. Norway29. Serbia30. Ukraine

Player eligibility

The national team was selected to encompass a cross-section of amateur football in the United States, and as such USA Football used a strict criteria to select team members. Interestingly, this does not allow the top American football players in the United States to compete as the restrictions include:
*Professionals from any US or Canadian league were ineligible
*Player must have graduated from college - current college players were ineligible
*All levels of NCAA and NAIA athletics were required to be represented, not just DI-A
*Players must be no more than 1 year removed from college

Team USA Roster for the 2007 IFAF World Cup

The team included players representing all levels of college football, with 13 from Division I-A, 12 from Division I-AA, 10 from Division II, 9 from Division III and 1 former NAIA player. The roster includes:
*Quarterback: Adam Austin, Arizona; Jeff Ballard, TCU; Rocky Pentello, Capital; Brian Lapolla, Ohio State
*Wide Receiver: Greg Aker, Minnesota-Duluth; Bobby Awrey, Saginaw Valley State; Jon Drenckhahn, Williams; Austin Flynn, Iowa State; Steve Odom, Toledo
*Tight End: D’Monn Baker, California (Pa.); Brian Thompson, Michigan
*Runningback: Doug Blakowski, Hobart; Cody Childs, Wisconsin-Stevens Point; Taylor Craig, Yale; Kyle Kasperbauer, Nebraska-Omaha; Wendell Johnson, Fairmont State; Dusan Mandic, Eastern Kentucky
*Offensive Line: Alex Atkins, Tennessee-Martin; Marcel Burrough, San Jose State; Rick Drushal, Wooster; Darrin Johnson, SMU; Kris King, Gardner-Webb; David Livengood, Indiana (Pa.); Chris Lundin, Adams State; Matt Padron, Texas State; Brad Poston, Coastal Carolina
*Defensive Line: Michael Cobbins, Missouri Western; Dustin Dlouhy, Montana; Ryan Kleppe, Wisconsin-Whitewater; Matt Ludeman, Western Michigan; Shawn Moorehead, Iowa State; Chris Thorner, Syracuse; Jeremy Van Alstyne, Michigan
*Linebacker: Dan Adams, Holy Cross; Demetrius Eaton, Northwestern; Adam Paulson, Sioux Falls; Ryan Tully, Harvard; Brig Walker, Princeton
*Secondary: Manauris Arias, Maine; Diezeas Calbert, Northwest Missouri State; Kenny Chicoine, Cal Poly; Jason Hoffschneider, North Dakota; Josh Kubiak, Mary Hardin-Baylor; Rob Rodriguez, Christopher Newport; Steve Teeples, Wisconsin-La Crosse; Cary Wade, Virginia Tech
*Kicker: Craig Coffin, Southern Illinois

External links

* [http://www.usafootball.com/teamusa Team USA Official Website]
* [http://www.teamusaamericanfootball.info/ Team USA and International American Football Blog]
* [http://www.ifafworldcup.blogspot.com IFAF World Cup Blog]