Well, another Mosconi Cup has come and gone...to team Europe, again. Being a US citizen, I had hoped for a different outcome given the fact that Team USA retooled this year and had a stronger team, in my opinion, than in years past. Unfortunately, I did not get to watch this year's event. I did see some video clips on YouTube and the environment there looked outright hostile. The Europeans really get behind their players.
Although Team USA lost again, I feel as though this year's team was much better than in year's past. The European team over the last few years has taken the Mosconi Cup very seriously by forming the team months early, practicing together, spending time together, and becoming a team focused on winning. This is something the USA team didn't do, usually throwing the team together weeks before and never spending time together or practicing...and it showed.
This year, Team USA selected Mark Wilson as the team Captain and he handpicked eight players. The eight potential players were:
Shane Van Boening *
John Schmidt *
Corey Deuel *
Brandon Shuff
Justin Hall *
Oscar Dominguez
Justin Bergman *
Jeremy Sossei
* 2014 Mosconi Cup team members
Team USA had a tough task ahead in this year's Mosconi Cup. Team Europe had been dominating, winning the last 5 in a row and the last 7 of 8 Mosconi Cup tournaments. Also adding to the fact that Team USA took a whole new approach to the 2014 Mosconi Cup, they had to travel to Blackpool, England to play on the Europeans' home turf. Following, last year's drubbing 11-2 loss by Team Europe, Team USA had nowhere to go but up.
In the hostile environment of Blackpool, Team USA started Day 1 pretty well, ending the day with a final matchup of Shane Van Boening vs. Darren Appleton and a chance to take a one point advantage. Darren ruined those hopes with a 5-3 victory, putting the European team ahead 3-2 at the close of the first day's matches.
Team USA started Day 2 on a high note, tying the score at 3 each, but Team Europe charged ahead to 6-3, winning 3 matches in a row before Appleton/Gray fell in the last match of the day to Deuel/Van Boening, ending Day 2 with a score of 6-4 in favor of Team Europe.
Day 3 started off with a European win to make the score 7-4. Justin Hall beat Nikos Ekononmopoulos 5-3 to get back to within 2 points, but Team Europe was too strong and won the next 2 matches to pull ahead 9-5.
It was over quickly for Team USA on Day 4 as Team Europe only needed 2 wins to claim the 2014 Mosconi Cup and they cleaned it up in the first 2 matches. Darren Appleton defeated Shane Van Boening 5-2 and Nikos Ekonomopoulos also defeated Shane Van Boening by the same score to once again claim the Mosconi Cup for Team Europe.
Although Team USA lost by 6 points, there were some positives in my mind.
1. We actually formed a team vs. previous years where we just threw a team together at the last minute.
2. We had a non-playing Captain, which I feel is important to actually have time to properly form a team, schedule practices, etc.
3. We didn't lose by 9 points like last year.
4. We added youth, which in time could grow as a team and hopefully win.
5. We play next year in LAS VEGAS!!
Hopefully this team will be able to stay together for the 2015 event, which will be held on US soil and should provide the advantage to Team USA.
We'll get them in 2015!!!
