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| Photo taken from the Mosconi Cup Facebook Page |
For a record breaking seventh straight time the European Team, which this time included Niels Feijen, Darren Appleton, Mark Gray, Albin Ouschan and rookie addition Jayson Shaw, won the Mosconi Cup. For the second time in 4 years it was a lopsided win as Europe handed the Americans a 11-3 loss.
Day one began with Europe getting out to an early lead taking the first three sets. The U.S finally got on the board with Rodney Morris taking their first point in singles scoring a 5-3 defeat of Mark Gray. It would then be up to the most accomplished U.S player Shane Van Boening to try and keep it close in a pivotal match that would bring the scoreline to either 4-1 or 3-2 at the conclusion of the day. As has been the case in several of the past years Shane was not able to come through going down 5-2 in defeat to Mosconi Cup hero Darren Appleton.
On Day two the U.S lost the first match and then were able to bring the score a little closer with the young guns on the team Skylar Woodward and Justin Bergman pulling out a win in the doubles. The next match would prove to be a turning point in the tournament as Mike Dechaine and Bergman lost a doubles match in which Bergman made some great shots but fell just short by a 5-4 scoreline. Bergman was once again sent out in the last match of the day and wasn't able to get things going leaving Europe with a big lead of 7-2 after two days.
From there Europe finished off the job winning four of the next five to cap off a convincing victory. It must be said that all players on the U.S. team made errors at one time or another. I would say that the players that made the least errors were Bergman and Woodward which was the same case as last year. Europe continually punished the U.S. for their errors and had a strong team vibe going throughout the event.
There has been a lot of scrutiny from the obviously frustrated American fans on social media leading up to and during the event. One topic for conversation has been the failure of the USA's best player Shane Van Boening to have any sort of winning contribution to the U.S. side. My first response to this as I have watched most of the matches over the past years is that Shane has not had his fair share of luck. Of course he has made mistakes along the way but if you went back and watched practically any of his matches over the past two years you would see that he has gotten the short end of the rolls a large percentage of the time. In a short race format like the Mosconi Cup the rolls will always play some part in the outcome.
The rest of the American team are used to playing in pool room venues with the one racked on the spot and I would say at least half the time on seven foot tables rather than 9 foot. Europe's players play almost all their events with the 9 on the spot on 9 foot tables at professional venues. Which also includes professional rules, dress code, media coverage etc. Basically European pool is breeding professionals and American pool is breeding the same players they've bred for the last 50 years. Players that are arguably stronger money game players, more well rounded players for example in games like one pocket, bank pool and bar table but the one thing they are lacking is an ability to play rotation games at a high level in professional settings. The players themselves are not to be blamed and in my opinion the only way they will be able to break this spell is to start competing more overseas.
At the end of the event Matchroom Sport promoter Barry Hearn announced that there will be a new Asia vs Europe Mosconi style event to be called the Reyes cup, no dates were announced but it seemed like it will happen in the near future. Hearn also said the 2017 Mosconi Cup will be back in Las Vegas.
