Mosconi Cup: Americans Trail 9-6 Going into Final Day

By: Markus Noé

The third day of the Mosconi Cup began this morning at 11:00 am local time at the Tropicana Casino in Las Vegas. Despite trailing 6-4 in the overall score the Americans came into the day with some momentum. This was due to the climatic finish in the last match on day 2 as Shane VanBoening made an amazing carom on the 9 to keep the Americans hopes alive.

That being said, in the first match of the day the duo of Justin Bergman/Corey Deuel came out flat. Their counterpart Albin Ouschan/Niels Feijen came out roaring playing near flawless. Once again in this match Deuel did not look comfortable and made a few mistakes that you would not likely see him make under normal circumstances. In the end Europe won this match with ease 5-1.

Deuel celebrating a great roll

In a bit of a surprise Marc Wilson sent Deuel out to play back to back matches despite his self admitted struggles. This was a bit unnerving however the "pool gods" appeared ready to give him some of the rolls he has been looking for all week. He was up against Nick van den Berg who has not registered a single point for the Europeans thus far. The match was filled with errors and miracle shots, it really was perhaps the most exciting match of the day. There was one particular shot were Deuel and van den Berg were exchanging safeties and Deuel had a tough jump shot to make on the 2 ball. He made good contact and inadvertently caromed the 9 ball cross corner winning the rack.


It was inevitable that this match would go double hill. Deuel was the first player to get a really good chance to finish the set and he made a bad shot on the 5 ball and missed. Somehow the nerves must have gotten to van den Berg as well because despite having four open balls left on the table he too missed giving Deuel one more chance which he took full advantage of winning 5-4.

At this point the Americans were only down 7-5 to the heavily favored European team. Once again it was time for another doubles match with Mike Dechaine and Skyler Woodward up against Karl Boyes and Albin Ouschan.   The Americans looked to finally be in the drivers seat going up 2-0 but that was short lived. The Europeans played well and roared back to go up 4-2. In the final rack of the set the Americans were in control. Woodward was straight in on his shot and was forced to play a stop shot leaving position for the 9 ball in the side. Dechaine was fully expected to make this shot, however he grazed the point of the pocket and rattled the shot. Ouschan stepped up to the table and slammed the winning 9 ball in, giving his team the 8-5 overall lead.

Feijen golden break. 

Next was the most heartbreaking match for the Americans. They had their number one player SVB up against the Europeans number one player Feijen. SVB who has been playing slightly under his normal speed this week was down 4-2 in this match. He battled back 4-4 and was even a little fortunate making a 9 ball off a three ball combination. However with Feijen winning the lag in this alternate break format it was his break in the case game, and to the joy of the Europeans and to the dismay of the Americans he potted the 9 off the break shot.

Going into the last match of the session the Americans were down 9-5 and desperately needed a win. This would not be easy as Justin Bergman was up against Darren Appleton. Bergman began the match by breaking and running his first three breaks, however he was only ahead 3-2. After a few errors from Appleton, Bergman went on to win 5-2. He did so while displaying tons of heart and an unwillingness to play safe as he was trying everything he could see, his style is made for T.V.

Play resumes at 2:00 pm eastern time tomorrow and it will be the final day of the 2015 Mosconi Cup. The live stream can be found here http://www.pool.livesport.tv/. If you are unable to watch make sure to check the Cue Sport Nation Facebook page as we will have updates of each match. Can the Americans do the unthinkable and win 5 matches before the Europeans win 2?