Thanks to Puerto Rico’s 34-21 thrashing of Mexico, Team USA has qualified for the semifinals. Unless the USA pulls a major upset against Argentina later today they will finish second in Group B and will play Brazil in the first semifinal on Friday. Long time USA veteran, Tom Fitzgerald highlighted in a short email exchange that the younger players on the team were coming along nicely and were really benefiting from getting game experience.

With a 32-30 defeat of Uruguay, Greenland has also secured the second place spot in Group A. Greenland also defeated Chile by the same score on the first day.

Side note: The Brazilian Federation website indicates that the matches are available via web streaming, but I think this is only for the Brazil matches.

Analysis: Barring a major upset in the semifinal, Brazil and Argentina will meet in the final and Greenland and the USA will play for the Bronze and the 3rd ticket to the World Championships. It will be interesting to see how the next couple of days unfold. The USA will continue to benefit from more game experience, but the wear and tear of playing 5 matches in 5 days has to be factored in. The semifinal matches could very well quickly turn into 2nd team scrimmages as all 4 teams will likely (and rightly) be more concerned with their next match. If one of the coaches is quoted as saying they are not looking past their current opponent treat that quote with a healthy dose of skepticism.