By: Markus Noé
Team England "A" started with a 7-6 win over Spain and ended with a come back in the final to win 10-9 over Holland, and become the 2014 World Cup Champions. Being down multiple games for the majority of the this set, the team of Darren Appleton and Karl Boyes looked out of this match for the most part.
However every time that the duo of Niels Feijen and Nick van den Berg from Holland was about to stretch their lead from 2 to 3 games, an error or a dose of bad luck would keep that from happening. Compacted with the pressure of being in a World Final and being continuously denied opportunities to run away with the title proved too much in the end for Holland.
This title adds to the already impressive resume of both Boyes and Appleton who were already world title holders. Darren of course winning that thrilling hill-hill match in Qatar in 2012 and Boyes is the 2007 World 8 ball Champion.
Something that stuck out during this World Cup was how dominate the Europeans teams were. The final four consisted of Austria, Finland, England and Holland. Notice that there was no Philippine or Asian representation which adds to my argument as of late that the best players in the world are European and not Asian but that is a discussion for another day.
The main reason why the European dominance jumped out at me is that we are now only a few short months away from another Mosconi Cup, which the Europeans have won virtually uncontested the past few years. In an article last year I mention my fear that if the U.S does not find away to win or at least compete, the Mosconi Cup could lose its legitimacy as a prestigious title.
The American team has been advertising all year their youth movement plan to reestablish the team. Change in the ranks has been needed for some time in American pool. However they could be sending a heard of sheep over to some very fierce wolves this year, and potentially risk a bigger blow out than last year.
In conclusion England played an amazing World Cup and gave us a thrilling final. Match-Room Sports showed the pool community once again why they are the best promoters on the planet. With the help of SkySports they are the only ones getting cues-sports on Television and the only ones finding substantial sponsors and adding to the prize money. In comparison Boyes and Appleton each are walking away with 30K a piece for this win, which is roughly the same amount the single winner of the U.S Open will win next month.
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