2010 World Lacrosse Championship

Tournament details
Host country	England
Venue(s)	Armitage Center, Manchester
Dates	15–24 July
Teams	29
Final positions
Champions	United States (9th title)
Runner-up	Canada
Third place	Australia
Fourth place	Japan
Tournament statistics
Games played	101
Goals scored	2,062 (20.42 per game)
MVP	Paul Rabil
← 2006 2014 →

The 2010 World Lacrosse Championship was held between 15–24 July. This international men's field lacrosse tournament organized by the Federation of International Lacrosse took place in Manchester, United Kingdom. This was the third time that the tournament was played in Greater Manchester, after the 1978 and 1994 championships.

The United States captured their ninth gold medal, defeating Canada 12–10 in the championship game.^[1] Paul Rabil of Team USA was named tournament MVP.^[2] Australia earned its fourth-straight bronze medal by defeating Japan 16 –9.

A record 29 nations competed at the event, eight more than the 2006 WLC in London, Ontario. The 101 games were held at the Armitage Centre, Manchester University's sports grounds.^[3][4]

For the first time, a FIL World Lacrosse Festival ran alongside the world championships from 17 to 22 July. 48 teams from around the world competed in 8 divisions from U16 to Grand Masters.^[5]

Iroquois passport controversy[edit]

The Iroquois Nationals' participation in the championships was prevented in a dispute over their passports.^[6] The team sought to travel on Haudenosaunee passports, but the United Kingdom government would not allow it because of increased passport security requirements.^[7] The United States Department of State initially also refused to allow the passports, but later granted the team a one-time waiver to travel to the tournament. However, the U.K. would not issue the team visas.^[8]

Initially, the Iroquois were hoping to be able to travel, and agreed to forfeit their first game against England. Because it was the opening game of the tournament, organizers arranged for the host team to play Germany in an exhibition match instead.^[9] However, just before game time, the FIL decided to move Germany to the Blue Division and the Iroquois to the Plum Division, making the England-Germany match an official one.^[10] The Iroquois team did not officially withdraw from the tournament, and would have been allowed to play its remaining games should it have resolved its passport difficulties in time.^[11] On 18 July, the FIL announced that the competition schedule had progressed too far to allow Iroquois to compete in the tournament.^[12] Each of the other three Plum Division teams were given 1–0 forfeit victories over the Iroquois team.

Pool play[edit]

For pool play, nations were separated into seven divisions according to strength, the top six teams were placed in the Blue Division, and the other teams were put in six divisions of four. Each of the thirty nations were eligible to win the championship. Each division played round-robin games for ranking to determine which tournament brackets they would be placed in.

Blue Division[edit]

The Blue Division originally consisted of the top six teams from the 2006 World Lacrosse Championship, but Germany was moved up to replace the missing Iroquois team. The first and second place teams from the Blue Division advanced to the tournament semifinals. The third and fourth place teams advanced to the quarterfinals. The fifth and sixth place teams were placed into the 5th through 8th place classification bracket.

Canada's 10–9 win over the United States marked the first time that the American team lost a preliminary round game in any world championship, and only its third loss overall.^[13] Both teams ended up advancing to the semifinals.

Japan, Australia, and England all finished 2–3 in the Blue Division and 1–1 in head-to-head matches against each other. All three games between the teams were close, with two going into overtime. Japan and Australia advanced to the quarterfinals based on goal differential in those matches.

Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Tie
Canada	5	5	0	86	28	+58		Advanced to semifinals
United States	5	4	1	88	29	+59
Japan	5	2	3	47	67	−20	+1	Advanced to quarterfinals
Australia	5	2	3	51	63	−12	0
England	5	2	3	44	59	−15	−1	Advanced to 5th–8th place games
Germany	5	0	5	24	96	−72

15 July 2010
England	12–3	Germany
16 July 2010
Canada	17–4	Japan
United States	21–5	Australia
17 July 2010
Japan	15–9	Germany
Australia	10–8 (OT)	England
United States	9–10	Canada
18 July 2010
England	13–12 (OT)	Japan
Germany	4–22	United States
Canada	19–5	Australia
19 July 2010
Germany	4–23	Canada
Australia	9–11	Japan
United States	17–5	England
20 July 2010
Japan	5–19	United States
Australia	22–4	Germany
Canada	17–6	England

Key to colours in division tables
Six division winners and top two runners-up advanced to the upper bracket
Four remaining runners-up and top four third-placed teams advanced to the middle bracket
Two remaining third-placed teams and six last placed teams advanced to the lower bracket

Intermediate Round[edit]

Starting on 19 July, all teams except for the Blue Division moved to one of three intermediate brackets: either the upper, middle, or lower bracket.

Upper bracket[edit]

The upper bracket included the six first-place finishers from each division as well as the top two second-place finishers. These teams were still eligible for the World Championship and could have finished anywhere from 1st to 16th in the tournament. By winning two games in the upper bracket, Scotland and Netherlands advanced to the quarterfinals.

	July 19				July 20
	Czech Republic	14
	Scotland	17
					Scotland	15
					Ireland	9
	Ireland	12
	Sweden	7
					Third place
					Czech Republic	8
					Sweden	15

	July 19				July 20
	Finland	7
	Wales	9
					Wales	8
					Netherlands	9
	Netherlands	16
	Spain	1
					Third place
					Finland	21
					Spain	4

Middle bracket[edit]

The middle bracket included the remaining four second-place finishers and the top four third-place finishers. These teams could have finished anywhere from 9th to 24th in the final rankings.

	19 July				20 July
	Switzerland	3
	New Zealand	11
					New Zealand	16
					Latvia	3
	Hong Kong	10
	Latvia	12
					Third place
					20 July – 12:30
					Switzerland	11
					Hong Kong	7

	19 July				20 July
	Norway	4
	Slovakia	14
					Slovakia	6
					Poland	11
	Poland	14
	Bermuda	10
					Third place
					Norway	4
					Bermuda	8

Lower bracket[edit]

The lower bracket included the remaining two third-place finishers and the six fourth-place finishers. These teams could have finished no higher than 17th in the final rankings.

	19 July				20 July
	Mexico	9
	South Korea	10
					South Korea	8
					Austria	13
	France	4
	Austria	15
					Third place
					Mexico	6
					France	10

	19 July				20 July
	Denmark
	Bye
					Denmark	3
					Italy	10
	Italy	13
	Argentina	9
					Third place
					Argentina

Play-in games[edit]

On 21 July, Finland beat Poland 13–7 to advance to the 9th–12th place bracket, sending Poland to the 13th–16th place bracket. Italy beat Switzerland 7–6 to advance to the 17th–20th place bracket, while Switzerland entered the 21st–24th place bracket.

Championship bracket[edit]

Classification brackets[edit]

Final standings[edit]

Rank	Team	Record
	United States	6–1
	Canada	6–1
	Australia	4–4
4	Japan	3–5
5	England	4–3
6	Germany	1–6
7	Scotland	6–2
8	Netherlands	5–3
9	Ireland	6–1
10	Sweden	4–3
11	Wales	5–2
12	Finland	5–3
13	Czech Republic	5–2
14	Poland	5–3
15	New Zealand	5–2
16	Spain	3–4
17	Slovakia	5–2
18	Bermuda	3–4
19	Italy	5–3
20	Latvia	2–5
21	Austria	5–2
22	Hong Kong	3–4
23	Switzerland	3–5
24	Norway	1–6
25	South Korea	3–4
26	Denmark	1–5
27	France	2–5
28	Argentina	0–6
29	Mexico	0–5
–	Iroquois	0–3

See also[edit]

• World Lacrosse, the unified governing body for world lacrosse
• World Lacrosse Championship
• Field lacrosse

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Official Website (archived), mirror
• Lacrosse World Championships 2010 at Activity Workshop
• Federation of International Lacrosse