U.S. Takes Early Lead
On the heels of near perfection from the duo of Earl Strickland and Rodney Morris, and the cool play of Gabe Owen, Team USA took a 2-1 lead over Team Europe on the opening day of play at the 2004 Mosconi Cup at the Hotel Zuiderduin in the Dutch seaside resort village of Egmond aan Zee.
For the first time in the 11-year history of the Matchroom Sport produced event, the European squad was installed as a slight betting favorite by Gibraltar-based betting service Stan James. And the Europeans scored the opening salvo when Dutch hero Niels Feijen and Matchroom-managed snooker star Steve Davis squeaked past luckless Charlie Williams and Tony Robles, 5-4. The loss marked the sixth consecutive Cup loss for Williams, who took the collar in four matches in 2003, and his last match in the 2002 Cup.
But Owen, the 26-year-old surprise U.S. Open winner making his Cup debut, proved to be the steady hand with captain/partner Johnny Archer in a 5-3 win over the German duo of Oliver Ortmann and Thomas Engert. Owen rescued Archer on several occasions after the world’s No.1 player botched a pair of easy shots to allow the Europeans to stay in the match. “I wasn’t nervous at all,” said Owen. “I was a wreck in my television matches at the U.S. Open. But here we’re the underdog, and I love being the underdog. Always have.”
The Americans seized the lead in the final match on the first day when Strickland and Morris stomped Mika Immonen and Marcus Chamat, 5-1. The U.S. pair played flawlessly throughout the match.
The best-of-12 event continues Friday with three doubles matches in the afternoon, followed by three singles matches Friday evening.
Mosconi Cup Teams Announced
Promoters Matchroom Sport have announced the teams for this year’s Mosconi Cup. Johnny Archer captains the American team; he is joined by Rodney Morris, Gabe Owen, Tony Robles, Earl Strickland and Charlie Williams. Germany’s Oliver Ortmann heads up the European team, which also includes Marcus Chamat, Steve Davis, Thomas Engert, Niels Feijen and Mika Immonen.
The Mosconi Cup takes place December 16-19 at the Hotel Zuiderduin in Egmond aan Zee, Holland.
Engert Masters Another Field
Thomas Engert can’t explain why, after years of playing in the shadow of his internationally successful countrymen Oliver Ortmann, Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann, he’s suddenly title-prone, but he’s not arguing.
“I can’t explain it,” said the 38-year-old German after coming from behind to beat Ortmann, 8-6, in the finale of the World Pool Masters in Egmond aan Zee, Holland. “But it’s okay with me.”
Engert, who picked up $50,000 in August at the International Challenge of Champions, earned another $20,000 at the Matchroom Sport-run World Pool Masters. The reigning European 9-Ball Champion may even have earned a spot on Europe’s 2004 Mosconi Cup squad with the win.
Engert led most of the match against Ortmann, but trailed 6-5 before rattling off the final three racks for the title in the 16-player international field.
Mosconi Cup Lineup Set
Matchroom Sport released its Team USA and Team Europe rosters for the popular Mosconi Cup, held at York Hall in Bethnal Green, England, Dec. 20-23. The two six-man rosters were respectively selected in consultation with the Billiard Congress of America and European Pocket Billiard Federation.
Five-time Player of the Year Earl Strickland will return as captain of the American squad, which is rounded out by Corey Deuel, Johnny Archer, Jeremy Jones, Nick Varner and Charlie Williams. All but Varner and Williams were members of last year’s Cup-winning team.
Team Europe is comprised of captain Ralf Souquet (Germany), Marcus Chamat (Sweden), Steve Davis (England), Niels Feijen (Holland), Mika Immonen (Finland) and Steve Knight (England).
ESPN Delays Mosconi Cup Airing
Pool fans who tuned in to ESPN2 Sunday afternoon, Dec. 28, expecting to see six consecutive hours of the 2003 Mosconi Cup instead found a string of Trick Shot Magic reruns.
Blame it on Eminem.
ESPN public relations spokesman Nate Smeltz said that the 2003 Mosconi Cup, staged Dec. 18-21 at the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas, had “production problems” that prevented it from airing in its assigned time slot. Smeltz went on to say that the Mosconi Cup would, indeed, air on ESPN2 in the near future, but that definitive dates have not been established.
According to Matchroom Sports, producers of the Mosconi Cup, the crux of the problem was music (including rapper Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”) that Matchroom’s United Kingdom television partner Sky Sport uses during player introductions and taped promotional segments.
“Sky Sports has copyright to run whatever music they want in the U.K.,” said Matchroom’s Luke Riches. “In the U.S., ESPN has to clear the rights to the music, or edit songs out of the program and replace them with music that they hold rights to.”
According to Riches, Sky Sport edited and produced four hours of programming from the 2002 Mosconi Cup, which aired on ESPN2 Dec. 29, 2002. In 2003, however, ESPN assumed the task of editing the footage into six one-hour shows. (All 20 matches of Team USA’s 11-9 win over Team Europe were aired live in the U.K. on Sky Sport.)
“Apparently,” said Riches, “ESPN couldn’t clear the music or re-edit the tapes in time.
“I guess this kind of thing can happen,” Riches added. “But it’s something of a disaster for our sponsors who bought commercial time and expected the commercials to air on Dec. 28.”
U.S. Assumes Command
On the heels of spirited and nearly flawless play from Mosconi Cup debutante Rodney Morris, Team USA won three of four matches Friday afternoon at the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas to take a 6-3 lead over Team Europe in the annual Matchroom Sport-promoted team tournament.
Morris, unbeaten in his two matches thus far (one doubles win and one singles victory), made the most of every shooting opportunity and worked the capacity crowd into near hysteria while teamming with Johnny Archer in a 5-1 stomping of the German duo of Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann. Morris continually urged the pro-U..S. crowd for support during the match.
Day Two of the Ryder Cup-style event began with Jeremy Jones, who learned he would be leading off in singles competition just 20 minutes prior to the opening lag, beating Sweden’s Marcus Chamat, 5-3. Earl Strickland and Tony Robles then paired to topple Steve Davis and Nick Van den Berg by the same score. The only thing that kept Europe from squandering all four opportunities on Friday was Mika Immonen’s thrilling 5-4 win over Charlie Williams. Williams had fought back from a 4-1 deficit to tie the match, and had the break in the case game. Not only did Williams fail to make a ball on the break, but he left Immonen a 1-9 combination that sealed his doom. Because of the U.S.’s three-game lead, the promoters decided not to stage a fifth match on Friday, for fear that another U.S. win might lead to an early end to the race-to-11 tournament. In 2001, the U.S. ended the event on Saturday with a 12-1 thrashing, leaving Matchroom and TV partner Sky Sports with no Sunday programming.
For more information on the 2004 Mosconi Cup, log onto www.mosconicup.com.
U.S. Takes Early Mosconi Cup Lead
A surprisingly large and boisterous turn-out greeted Team USA and Team Europe on Thursday when the Mosconi Cup team tournament made its U.S. debut at the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas, and the players didn’t disappoint. In a five-match mix of singles and doubles play, the U.S. squad closed out the opening day with a 3-2 advantage in the race-to-11 tournament.
Uncertain of how the Mosconi Cup, wildly successful for nine years in London, would fare in America, promoter Barry Hearn of Matchroom Sport was overwhelmed by the 300-plus fans that filled the arena for the 11 a.m. opening lag. “This is absolutely fantastic,” said Hearn, who hopes to switch the Cup to a home-and-home series from this point on. Bouyed by nearly 100 Euros who made the pre-Christmas trek to Las Vegas, the first day featured raucous cheering for the two sides.
The opening match featured Johnny Archer, pool’s hotest player, against reigning World Pool Champion Thorsten Hohmann of Germany. Archer jumped to an early lead, and held on for a nerve-wracking 5-4 win in a match that lasted some 90 minutes.
Europe tied the match when the Scandanavian duo of Marcus Chamat and Mika Immonen rolled to a 5-1 win over Tony Robles and Charlie Williams.
The U.S. took a 3-1 lead after Rodney Morris made an impressive Mosconi Cup debut with a 5-3 pasting of Ralf Souquet, and the team of Earl Strickland and Jeremy Jones squandered a 4-0 lead, but outlasted Steve Davis and Nick Van den Berg, 5-4.
Europe stayed within striking distance of the Americans when Immonen topped Archer, 5-3, in the day’s final match.
For more information and photos from the 2004 Mosconi Cup, and match-by-match updates, go to www.mosconicup.com.