With a successful comeback against Mexico, Austria’s men’s flag football national team has made it to the final of the World Cup in Lahti.
Head coach Michael Salamon’s team beat the Mexicans 36:32 on Thursday and will face defending champions USA on Friday (6:15 p.m. CEST).
Meanwhile, the Austrian women lost their semifinal against the favored US Americans 24:41 and will fight for bronze on Friday (5 p.m.).
“We will challenge the US until the end”
At halftime, the red-white-red flag men were still trailing 14:24 in the semifinal against the vice world champions from Mexico. But with three touchdowns in the second half, they turned the game around and moved into the final. And that in a sport that will be an Olympic sport for the first time at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
“We are in the World Cup final, that is unbelievable. I am so proud of my boys, they have gone one better. We will challenge the USA to the end tomorrow,” explains Salamon. In the quarter-finals, the AFBÖ team had the upper hand against Denmark (29:24).
Despite a good start, the AFBÖ women ultimately had no chance against the USA. Coach Robert Riedl’s team had previously eliminated Brazil (34:32) in the round of 16 and then Italy (29:26) with narrow victories in the quarterfinals. Their opponent for bronze is Mexico.
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