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The US Eagles ended their Olympic journey on a high, defeating upstarts Spain 24-12 to claim 9th spot at Deodoro Stadium. Martin Iosefo entered the team after Perry Baker was forced to pull out injured, and things started badly as Pablo Fontes touched down for an early Spanish lead. A yellow card to Joan Losada opened space, however, and the Eagles fired back with scores to Danny Barrett and Carlin Isles to lead by seven at the break.
Stand-in captain Ángel López tied things up with a try early in the second half. The pace of the USA attack was too much, however, and first Maka Unufe and the Isles with his second closed things out.
With the win the Eagles finish with three wins from five games, but will still be bitterly disappointed to miss out on a chance to compete for a medal. A sluggish first day that saw them lose to Argentina and fail to rack up the points over Brazil proved to be the difference. They can take heart from giving favorites Fiji a stern challenge and working past their disappointment to finish in style.
USA EAGLES
Perry Baker, Danny Barrett, Garrett Bender, Andrew Durutalo, Nate Ebner, Madison Hughes (capt.), Martin Iosefo, Carlin Isles, Folau Niua, Ben Pinkelman, Zack Test, Maka Unufe, Chris Wyles
RESULTS
USA 14 – 17 Argentina (Pool A)
USA 26 – 0 Brazil (Pool A)
Fiji 24 – 19 USA (Pool A)
USA 24 – 12 Brazil (9th Place Semi Final)
USA 24 – 12 Spain (9th Place Final)
