IFAF Svetovno prvenstvo v flag footballu Skupina D
Group D
Finland
Germany
Israel
Mexico
Slovakia
Thailand
Most of us who are in the flag football world have the eyes of Group D. About group C, you can read it here.
The biggest question is what will Germany bring to the table. They were out of the international stage tournaments for quite some time, and we are eager to see if they will fight the dust from their shoulders. Will the German talent be enough to cope with Mexico, the country that is breathing flag football? Or Israel, which has the most experience and played against the USA on the biggest stage?
This was also the group in which we had different perspectives among our ranks, but we owe you our point of view of Power Rankings, and here they are.
1st place Mexico
Mexicans have everything. They have a playbook nobody ever understands; they have the speed, trick plays, and everybody can throw a ball. But they are hungry for more this year. Last World Championship, held in Panama in 2018, they finished 4th after a tough loss against Denmark 38-34. At the medal table, they are ranked 2nd, with one silver and one bronze. This year, they want to clinch the 1st gold medal. And we are not saying that they are not capable of it, but we know they learned a lot from the last WC 2018!
The national team will fill their squad with new fresh faces from 2018, but we all know which three players of Mexico are unchangeable. Guillermo Villalobos is such an athlete, my days! Everybody is just jealous about his physique, speed, safe hands, verticality, everything. No wonder he plays in the CFL as a professional for Ottawa Redblacks. He will be one of the contenders to get into the all-team offence for sure! There is also David Ramirez in the Mexico team, who will be the #2 WR for Mexico, and Diego Perez Arvizu. We all know about him, his ability to play, throw and score TD's.
Their defence is solid and capable of winning too. It's going to be fun to see who will play on the defence side because, in Mexico, every player can. From Carlos Gonzales to Ricardo Sainz or Ivan Mendez. We think they are just a little bit too much for every other team in this group. Especially if they can, and they can shut out Slovakia, Thailand, and Finland.
2nd place Israel
Probably we are making (again) an injustice to Germany, but we have arguments for doing so. The most significant handicap that Israel has is there is no Daniel Mikhailov, he got injured himself, and there is a question of who will fill the void for him. Everybody knows how Avrami Farkas doesn't have the cleanest throw and the spiral, but the ball is where it should be every time. His ability to read and make the right decisions is impeccable, which is why Israel has the advantage in this group. Well, that, home turf and Dani Eastman, of course.
When they played against the USA in International Bowl 2020, they lost 51-36. But they showed some excellent plays. There is a little bit of trick or treat, and we all know the famous tip for the TD against Austria in Israel 2019 EC. Dani Eastman is a beast in flag football. One of the future Hall of Fame flag football players. He can run, he can catch, he can intercept, he can throw, he can duck, he can do everything. Here is also a big guy Gideon Reiz who will take advantage of a one-on-one matchup against smaller defenders.
Israel is stacked with names such as Moshe Shear, David Abell, Jonathan Curran, so because of Farkas ability as a QB and the home turf; we think Israel is going second. But it will be a battle for the 2nd place because Germany is bringing the big guns in names.
Kenny Zwiebel as a head coach, will have to trust both sides to make some plays in this group.
3rd place Germany
We can only imagine what happened to Germany, so they weren't participants in European and world championships, but it does not even matter. What matters is how rusty they are and how fast they are going to lose it. We could write days about Benjamin Klever, a big QB who can throw hail mary with eyes closed, and still, he will find somehow Fabian Achenbach. He and his favourite target in Fabian saw everyone when they played against Walldord Wanderers.
The offence with Klever, Achenbach and Jurica Gajić will be electric. Germany will have the advantage to prove us all wrong. They possess the quality to be even first in the group to be understood, but the lack of the big tournaments is a factor in placing them 3rd. They have a ton of talent and athletes.
On the defence side, we also have a couple of interesting names. The captain of the defence will probably be another Wanderer, Jerome Saxon, who is just poetry when you watch him (Saxon and Johansen from Denmark should be in the all-team-best reason). Then we have Nils Just, an athlete who plays for Ausburg Rooks. And he is an absolute star in DFFL. And then we have a big wall, Heiko Kramer, on the blitz. We bet QB's from Slovakia, Thailand, and Finland never saw a man this big who plays blitzer and will be an absolute nightmare for them because, with his long arms, he can block the pass, he can pull the flag for a sack, and the most crucial part he can stop the QB's view in order were to pass.
Germany has a lot of options to become second or even first place. We hope that the first three games will make their engine start, and from that way, only the sky is the limit.
4th place Thailand
Yep, you read that right. Even if we know that Japan is the best Asian team in the tournament, we think Thailand has an excellent chance to become the highest-ranking Asian flag football team in the WC this big. They possess speed and safe hands. Well, it depends if the other groups are going to lock Darius Chirasanta, they have a chance, but we believe Wutthikrai Kanjanasit will find Nanthanit Faksang instead. Faking brings the height and the stability to the Thailand offence, but it will be very hard for them against elite cornerbacks such as Eastman and Saxon or any player from the Mexico squad. But!
We are exiting what the will defence brings, but due to lack of experience against elite offences Wasawat Wongsrivilas, Nathan Julawatcharapong, and the rest of the company will have a tough time.
They have pretty good chances against Finland and Slovakia.
5th place Finland
Tuomas Heikkinen, a head coach for Finland, will have a hard time in this tournament. We know that the girls from Finland are ballers in flag football, and we also see that the tackle version is pretty big in Finland.
But tackle and flag are entirely different styles of plays and battles. So it's going to be interesting to see how the players such as Micky Kyei, Ville Hämäläinen, and brothers Linnainmaa will perform. Kimi Linnainmaa is probably the biggest superstar in the Finland team, and he played for Potsdam Royals in the 2021 season.
Aleksi Riiheläinen is a good baller for United Newland Crusaders, but he will struggle with all the penalties for pass interference and illegal contact. And probably this will be a massive setback for the Finland team because they will play too physically on the defence.
We couldn't find out anything about their QB. Probably that would be Miro Kadmiry. It will be nice to see how he will cope with constant pressure and not have enough time in the pocket to throw the ball. If the Finland team plays more with the head than physicality, they can even clinch 4th place.
6th place Slovakia
Maybe the last team we are going to write about, but they are not the least. Slovakia started huge with the Play flag football initiative where Nitra Knights bring flag football to the youngster. But they just started with their male and female national team, and we give them kudos. Some of the national teams went out, and they are still here to compete! And Phillip Hilderbrand, as a head coach, will have to squeeze every ounce of his players to win a game or two.
They have a young team consist most of the tackle players. And maybe they will be dominant one day, but this WC they should take as an experience of the lifetime and develop the game and the team for the future.
Boris Bútora will be the QB1. We don't know if he has any international experience, but we will see how he will perform. Don't understand us wrong. Slovakia has a lot of potentials and, of course, some balls, such as Tomas Urban, who is an excellent CB and safety. Matús Kotora will be one of the leading receivers for the Slovakia offence,
with Stefan Pápay and Mario Biro.
And on the defence, they will also play strong. But the lack of experience, we think they will go home without points and the win. They will struggle with trick plays against Thailand and also to match their speed. But we wish them more than luck! Follow us on Instagram for more news!
Games to watch: Germany - Mexico
Germany - Israel
Finland-Slovakia
