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Canada beats Kuwait 91-0 at IFAF U-19s: growing pains of growing the game

Gridiron football's becoming more and more of a global game, but trying to introduce the sport to new countries carries growing pains. That was shown Monday at the International Federation of American Football U-19 World Championships in Kuwait, where the Canadian team beat the hosts 91-0, sparking plenty of Twitter commentary:

Jokes aside, though, there's more to this than meets the eye. For starters, Kuwait was playing in their first-ever international tournament, so it's not all that surprising that they struggled. By contrast, Canada's found plenty of success on the international stage, including a run to the final and a silver medal at the senior IFAF World Championships in 2011 and a gold medal at the last edition of the U-19 IFAF World Championships in 2012. There's tons of Canadian talent out there, and the pool's deepening all the time, as shown by this team. The roster's full of impressive players, including 10 already committed to CIS schools.

This team has an impressive coaching staff, too. They're led by head coach and defensive coordinator Warren Craney (the head coach at York University, and a guy who's been involved with most of Canada's IFAF teams), their offensive coordinator is Justin Éthier (the OC for the Laval Rouge et Or, the most consistently successful CIS team and the reigning Vanier Cup champions) and, amongst other impressive assistants, they have former Edmonton Eskimos' star Kamau Peterson coaching the receivers. This is a very good Canadian team, and it's not surprising to see them dominate a team that's new on the international stage.

How thorough was that dominance? As the box score shows, Kuwait wasn't able to do much of anything in this one. The hosts only achieved a single first down while collecting -66 rushing yards and four passing yards (with seven completions on 22 attempts). Meanwhile, Canada only attempted 13 passes, but completed 10 of them for 235 yards and added 132 rushing yards on 19 attempts. That's a thumping. Here's the box score:

Should Canada have eased up more once they got so far ahead? Some will undoubtedly make that argument, but without seeing the game, it's difficult to tell just how aggressive the Canadian team was. Kuwait only picking up one first down means Canada spent a lot of time with the ball. It's also notable that while the outcome of this game was long decided, individual performances in it still meant something; this is a deep Canadian roster, and there's pressure on every player to perform to keep their spot. This is also a roster brought together from across the country, so they haven't had a lot of time to gel; testing their abilities and chemistry rather than just sitting back is important, especially as tougher tests are ahead for the Canadian team.

Canada faces France Thursday and Austria Sunday, and while neither team's a powerhouse, both have spent far more time competing at the international level than Kuwait. They could pose a threat. It's hard to fault the Canadians for trying to use this game as a positive learning experience rather than just taking a knee every time they got the ball in the second half. (You can also pretty much take everything ever written about the Canadian women's hockey team playing minnows, or good CIS teams beating up on the likes of then-struggling teams like Waterloo and York, and apply it here.)

While a 91-0 loss must feel awful, there's hope here for Kuwait too. No one would think of the country as a gridiron football threat, but it's cool to see the game spreading there, with them hosting this tournament and competing for the first time. They'll get better, too. Yes, the international football scene is still largely dominated by the U.S., but other countries such as Canada, Japan and Austria are improving all the time, and Canada's win over the U.S. in the last U19 championships shows upsets are possible. Kuwait may not post any wins in this tournament, but hopefully they'll stay interested in the game; if they do, their team will improve as time goes on. They may be a punchline today, but today's punchline can be tomorrow's contender.