đ The Week in International Sport
Monday August 17th: flag football, Dutch World Cup winners and Duco Telgenkamp
This year at Plot the Ball, Iâm using data to try and better understand the landscape of international team sport. For some background to this project â which Iâm calling âRank the Nationsâ â you can read my introductory post here.
In todayâs edition of The Week in International Sport:
đšđŠ Canada winning a world title in womenâs flag football
đșđž The USA winning a world title in menâs flag football
đșđž The USA winning a Pan American title in menâs volleyball
đ Chart of the week: assessing squad turnover in Dutch womenâs field hockey
âȘïž Highlight of the week: Duco Telgenkampâs smash hit
đ A few other interesting things I learned
As a reminder: the team ratings used in this newsletter are on a zero-to-10 scale, and are calculated based on a nationâs performance in competitive fixtures in a given sport since the start of the 2022 calendar year. (For more detail, click here.)
đšđŠ Canada win the 2026 IFAF Womenâs Flag Football World Championship
Will flag football be two automatic gold medals for the host nation at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028? Not on current evidence. After last weekâs World Championship, the landscape on the womenâs side of the sport is particularly interesting.
The USA (7.9) do come out as the top-rated team below â just â but Mexico (7.9) are essentially level with them in second. (I use win rate as a tie-breaker, and the Americans are a few points ahead.) Between them, they had won the last five major global tournaments. However, it was Canada (6.8) who won this yearâs Worlds: they beat Mexico in the semi-finals by 20 points to six, before defeating the USA 27-20 in yesterdayâs gold-medal game. All three have now confirmed their places at LA28.
How am I thinking about the Americansâ Olympic chances? A reason to be optimistic about their potential is the fact that they introduced a new quarterback â 17-year-old Hawaiâi native Akemi Higa â at this tournament. Itâs a decision that could pay off at the Games â especially if her twin sister, who she played with on the junior national team last year, breaks through at wide receiver. âWhen we need it,â Higa says, âwe are able to find each other on the field.â It turns out the USA might just need it.
đșđž The USA win the 2026 IFAF Menâs Flag Football World Championship
The USA (8.4) did manage to win the menâs Worlds in DĂŒsseldorf at the weekend, but had one hiccup â and another close call â along the way. In the group stages, they lost to minnows American Samoa; Japan (6.1) then ran them close in the semis.
In general, though, the competitive picture is less compelling on the menâs side of flag football. Mexico (6.8) are the second-best team in my ratings, and came fourth at the Worlds â but thereâs clear daylight between them and the Americans for now.
đșđž The USA win the 2026 menâs volleyball Pan American Cup
The USA (6.1) didnât take any of their menâs Volleyball Nations League finals squad to last weekâs Pan American Cup in Mexico. Instead, they sent a 14-player squad with seven current student-athletes in it â and still won the competition outright.
This strategy isnât always sufficient for success; at the same competition in 2025, the Americans finished sixth. The international calendar rolls on next month, with the USA competing again in the NORCECA Championship â last held in 2023 â in Canada.
đ Chart of the week: Is this still the same dominant Dutch hockey team?
Over the next few weeks, the Netherlands will be hoping to win their fourth straight womenâs field hockey World Cup. Their recent record is formidable â but how many of this yearâs squad were also part of their successes in 2014, 2018 and 2022?
Xan de Waard is the one player to have appeared at all four World Cups over the last 12 years; four played in both 2018 and 2022, and five won their first title in 2022. 10 returners is one fewer than they brought last time around: 11 of their 2018 squad also played four years later. However, their starting line-up remains experienced. Only two World Cup rookies started the teamâs first game against Chile, and one of them â 29-year-old forward Marijn Veen â scored one of the teamâs goals in a 2-0 victory.
âȘïž Highlight of the week: Duco Telgenkampâs smash hit
The menâs field hockey World Cup runs simultaneously with the womenâs in Belgium and the Netherlands this August. The Dutch got off to a strong start, with a 5-1 win over New Zealand â and a clip of their second goal yesterday stopped me mid-scroll.
After the Black Sticks kept out a penalty corner attempt early in the second half, Duco Telgenkamp â who had been attacking the right-hand goal post â controlled the rebound with a smart first touch. His second protected the ball from the defender over his left shoulder; his third brought it into space towards the centre of the âDâ. With his fourth touch, he made a sublime connection on his reverse side and rifled the ball into the left corner. Just like that, the co-hosts had their first lead of the tournament.
You can watch a replay of this goal on Instagram here.
đ What else I learned last week
For ESPNCricinfo, Alex Malcolm investigated what Australiaâs bowling attack in menâs test cricket might look like after their current first-choice pace quartet â all 33 or older â retires. There are several exciting out-and-out quicks coming through the system; their issue has been staying fit â in particular, avoiding stress fractures to the back. âSome people say itâs like a rite of passage,â said 20-year-old Callum Vidler. âBut I was kind of hoping I wouldnât have to go through it.â
For The Cutback, Neel Shelat analysed Nigeriaâs surprising quarter-final exit from the womenâs soccer African Cup of Nations. Their defeat by Cameroon followed a loss to Malawi; South Africa then beat them in a play-off, so they will miss the World Cup for the first time. Shelat wonders if the countryâs federation might have started to take the teamâs success for granted; ahead of WAFCON, â[t]he NFF scheduled friendlies against three African opponents ranked outside the top 70â.
For her newsletter, Katie McInerney wrote up a visit to Harvard Stadium to watch one of the first games ever played in the Womenâs Lacrosse League â the field lacrosse competition newly set up in the USA as a counterpart to the PLL, a menâs franchise league. For now, the PLLâs owners have elected to tether the two closely together: âThe WLL and PLL played alongside each other this summer, with womenâs games sandwiched between the menâs at most tour stops.â
The next edition of the newsletter will be published in two weeksâ time, on Monday August 31st.
