World Footy News

The day concludes with a Women's launch function at BISS, possibly since some of the women's sides had not arrived by opening night last Friday.

We ended up with exactly 50 contestants for our IC11 tipping competition.  Many thanks to John Hamilton for putting this together and Burley Sekem for their prizes.

With 18 matches decided on Game Day 1 there was plenty of room for error, but then again all bar one of the results went with the seedings so playing it safe was a good bet.  The two close games of the day were the United States defying the seeding by defeating Canada by 3 points and Japan edging Fiji by 2 points in a last gasp win.

No doubt you'll all shed a tear for this author when I say that I got both those wrong - so near to a perfect score but now well down the leaderboard and feeling robbed that Fiji's gun young player Dylan Wolfgramm (probably worth several goals) was not available, instead putting in a best on ground performance for Avondale Heights down in Victoria.

Don't forget to get your tips in for Game Day 2 before tomorrow morning!  The results so far:
 

The final session at Blacktown number two oval was expected to see a tight tussle between North American rivals Canada and the United States (seeded just below the Canadians but with a very successful record against them).

And that's exactly what we got, with one of the most enthralling International Cup matches and one of only two for that day that went down to the wire.

What we didn't really expect was the mighty effort from the Peace Team, in particular against Canada in which the Peace Team held the Northwind to just one point at half time.

The lights were in full effect at the main oval at Blacktown International Sportspark Sydney (BISS) for the evening slot featuring number 3 seed South Africa, strong European nation Denmark and development squad China.

First up the South Africans took on the Danes in what proved to be an intriguing tussle.

Then the Lions faced easier opposition and became the first team to rack up a century victory, against China's Red Demons.

The night at BISS1 concluded with China against the Denmark's Vikings and although there was pillage to be had for the Danes the Chinese did come away with some reward as well.

Group 5 turned out to be the toughest on the Opening Day of the 4th AFL International Cup, with 5th seed Nauru not completely dominating and a thriller between Japan and Fiji.

The Japan versus Fiji match was tipped as a possible close one and didn't disappoint, with the new boys on the block Fiji, leading until the dying stages.  The day was darkening and it was looking that way on the scoreboard for Japan until the Samurai managed to avoid a loss of pride and scrape into Division One.

For the Fijians they now look to be a very dangerous side in Division Two and should be aiming to win it.

Nauru won reasonably well in both matches but didn't look as impressive as some other top countries and unless they were foxing will need to improve to challenge for a top four spot.

The second set of Group matches to be played at BISS1 on the Opening Day of IC11 featured one time champs and number 2 seed New Zealand, up against Sweden (bronze medallist at the 2010 European Championships) and a re-born India.

It was a credit to a lot of hard work behind the scenes by volunteers just for India to be in Sydney, and with not a lot of on field activity in recent times not a great deal was expected, especially against accomplished opponents.

Perhaps of most interest was to see whether Sweden have improved enough to push the Kiwis, and whether the New Zealanders would present the same style of structured game as past Cups.

Group 4 had the honour of kicking off the first day of IC11 (along with Group 1 on the main oval) at Blacktown International Sportspark Sydney oval two (BISS2).  Warm weather (which didn't last all day) greeted the players which would've been to Timor-Leste's (East Timor's) liking, but the heat was soon on them in their debut as Great Britain quickly showed them the ropes.

There was no respite for the Crocs as they then took on number 4 seed and for many Cup favourite Ireland.  Fortunately the opening day format of 2 x 15 minute halves stopped some of the damage (although one Timor-Leste player was off to hospital with a suspected major shoulder injury).

The group then completed with the European neighbours clashing in what was a reasonable battle but Ireland's Warriors were a class above.

The 2011 AFL International Cup started Saturday morning at Blacktown International Sportspark Sydney (BISS) with number one seed Papua New Guinea taking on new boys Tonga in Group A, joined in their three way series by another new footy nation in France.

Proceedings got underway slightly earlier as both PNG and Tonga went quickly to their positions after their respective war dances.  The Tongan boys looked impressive with height and powerful physiques, but everyone knew the Mosquitoes would be fast and too good.  Greater interest would lie in how the French performed against the islanders.

The AFL have this evening confirmed the teams that will compete in the two Men's divisions for the rest of the International Cup. 

Division One Teams are: Canada,  Denmark, Great Britain, Ireland, Japan, Nauru,  New Zealand,  Papua New Guinea,  South Africa, Sweden, Tonga and the USA
 
Division Two: China, France, Fiji, India, Peace Team, Timor-Leste
 

The fixture for the next week in Sydney follows.  But we will highlight that the match between the USA and South Africa will be the curtain raiser at ANZ Stadium before the Sydney Swans vs St Kilda match.

With the first day's Lightning Premiership done and dusted, we've had a glimpse of powerful displays from Ireland, NZ, PNG and South Africa.

It seems that one or two scores originally entered into SportingPulse were incorrect, but with the corrections, the further seeding now consists of: New Zealand (1), Ireland(2), PNG (3), South Africa (4), USA (5), Nauru (6), Denmark (7), Canada (8), Great Britain (9), Sweden (10), Tonga (11) and Japan (12).

That results in the following pools in Division 1 for the remainder of the tournament:

Pool 1: New Zealand, Canada, Great Britain
Pool 2: Ireland, Denmark, Sweden
Pool 3: PNG, Nauru, Tonga
Pool 4: South Africa, USA, Japan

Pools 1 and 4 give all nations a good mix of opponents beyond the usual suspects, Pool 2 though sees Denmark, Ireland and Sweden clash, who may be disappointed to be facing off when they have a chance to do this almost every year regardless of the IC. Pool 3 sees three Pacific island nations going head-to-head, but as there hasn't been a great deal of tournament play in that region, it might not be as big an issue as with the Euro nations.

Division 2 will presumably be Fiji (13), France (14), China (15), India (16), Peace Team (17) and Timor-Leste (18).

Most games went according to script, with some major blowouts between the established nations and the minnows. In the pool that was seen as hardest to tip, Japan have won through into Division 1, with a hard-fought 2-point victory over Fiji. The Fijians were strong and athletic, but the Japanese were able to overcome them through better structural play around the ground.

The Fijians can take consolation in being the only Div 2 side to get through the seeding matches without any major thrashings, and look to be favourites to take out the Division 2 title. The Peace Team and Timor-Leste both failed to trouble the scoreboard, but as the Peace Team were seeded higher pre-tournament will be ranked 17 when calculating the remainder of the draw.

The official confirmed draw for the remainder of the tournament will be released by the AFL by 10pm AEST tonight. WFN's match reports from the day's proceedings will be on the site within the next day.

[album:18 width:200 height:160 align:left border:1 link:1 Game Day 1 gallery]

All the results from the AFL International Cup Game Day 1 at Blacktown International Sportspark Sydney will be added throughout Saturday 13th August - we're aiming to have scores up for every game at each half (these are 2 x 15 minute half games).

We suggest you refresh your browser regularly to see the latest.  Match reports will follow later in the day and into Sunday.

We'll also add photos to our gallery (left) as time permits.