iStockphoto / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
There are upsets, and then there is Tua Tagovailoa’s little brother showing up with American Samoa and ending a 14-year Team USA flag football streak two years before the sport enters the Olympics. Taulia Tagovailoa threw five touchdown passes in a 38-32 win Friday, briefly turning the world’s most dominant flag football program into the punchline of its own tournament.
The loss was the United States men’s first in an IFAF-sanctioned competition since the 2012 World Championship final against Austria. Team USA had won the next five world titles and spent more than a decade treating international flag football like somebody forgot to turn the difficulty setting above “rookie.”
Taulia Tagovailoa Gave Team USA A Very Early Olympic Warning
Tagovailoa was not simply hanging around for the upset. The former Maryland quarterback completed 29 of 36 passes for 213 yards and five touchdowns, and American Samoa never trailed after taking a 19-13 lead before halftime.
That is a fairly hilarious sentence to write about a country that has spent 14 years owning this sport.
The timing makes it even better. Flag football will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, where the United States is already qualified as the host. The next two years are going to include endless arguments about NFL stars joining Team USA, current flag specialists protecting their spots, and whether some superstar tackle-football player can learn the sport quickly enough to win gold.
American Samoa just provided a useful reminder that everyone else plans on participating too.
Team USA actually opened the scoring against American Samoa, but a penalty erased a 45-yard touchdown on its second possession. American Samoa took advantage, built a 26-13 lead early in the second half, and never gave it back. The Americans closed the gap, but the comeback ended at 38-32.
For approximately one afternoon, panic was available for purchase in bulk.
America Responded By Winning The Entire Thing Anyway
The United States’ response was basically, “OK, very funny.”
Team USA came back later Friday and flattened Australia 40-7 to reach the knockout round. It then survived Japan 45-38 in a quarterfinal that featured eight lead changes before escaping Mexico 42-40 in the semifinal on a game-ending interception.
So after losing for the first time since the Obama administration’s first term, America apparently decided losing was annoying and stopped doing it.
Italy was waiting in Sunday’s championship game. That lasted about a half.
The United States raced to a 38-8 halftime lead and eventually won 46-26 to secure its sixth consecutive IFAF World Championship. Darrell “Housh” Doucette earned tournament MVP honors after scoring four touchdowns in the final, and Team USA finished the event as world champion despite owning one extremely weird blemish in pool play.
That blemish might end up being the most interesting result of the entire tournament.
The 2028 Olympic version of this sport will have more attention, more money, and potentially NFL stars added to national team rosters. It would be easy to assume the United States can simply assemble a Madden roster and walk to the gold medal.
American Samoa already demonstrated why that assumption could get dangerous.
Taulia Tagovailoa and company did not win the world championship. They did something nobody else had managed in 14 years, though: they beat Team USA when the game counted.
America responded by winning the trophy anyway.
Not a bad preview for an Olympic sport that apparently plans on being complete chaos.