Studio Ballroom
MGM Grand
3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas
Nevada
USA
(702) 891-1111
www.mosconicup.com
www.matchroomsport.com
Thursday-Sunday 13-16 December 2007
USA 4 – 1 Europe
TEAM AMERICA opened up a comprehensive 4-1 lead after the first day’s play at the 2007 PartyPoker.net Mosconi Cup at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas as the inexperienced European side failed to make any sort of mark on the proceedings.
With two doubles, two singles plus a team game where all ten players participate, the Europeans put on a collective lackluster display with no player anywhere near their best.
With the exception of Shane Van Boening, the Americans were also sub-par but their opponents offered them too many opportunities throughout the day.
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Team USA drew first blood as they took the opening team game 6-4. Some of the players struggled to get to grips with the new breaking conditions whereby the players break from the centre and need to get three balls back past the headstring.
Daryl Peach failed to complete a successful break twice with Shane Van Boening the other culprit. In the end though it was the Americans superior cohesion that saw them get off the mark first.
The Americans looked in a strong position to take the second game of the tournament as the Archer / Morris axis moved into a 3-0 lead over Niels Feijen and Ralf Souquet.
Some excellent breaking from Archer established the USA momentum. However, an error from Morris assisted the Europeans and they stuck at to level things at 3-3.
America retook the lead but were immediately pegged back by the Europeans. Archer missed a bank on the orange 5 and Feijen was then unlucky to not be successful with a 5-6 carom.
This was not punished as Morris left a 5-6 combination available, which Souquet made and that led to it becoming 4-4. Then, for the first time in the match, Europe took the lead and moved to the hill.
Archer sunk three balls off the break but another Morris error, as he missed the blue 2 allowed Europe to clear and move to the hill.
Two balls from Feijen on the break were not capitalized on as Souquet missed on the 2 ball but Morris once again missed, this time on the 3 ball and the Americans never got back to the table.
In the opening singles match, South Dakota ’s Shane Van Boening prevailed in his clash against reigning World Pool Champion Daryl Peach.
The Englishman made a few errors but it was the 24 year-old US Open champion’s near-flawless performance that carried him through to a comprehensive 6-2 victory.
Plenty of errors added to the excitement as the USA pairing of Earl Strickland and Corey Deuel sneaked past Tony Drago and Konstantin Stepanov by 6-5.
With both Europeans making their Mosconi Cup debuts, there were plenty of nerves and that translated to missed shots and some poor positional play.
The Americans opened up a 5-4 lead but there was little in it as neither side could get to grips with their nerves. Europe levelled it to make it a hill-hill affair and with two balls left on the table, it looked to be Europe ’s tie.
Stepanov though, left Drago with no option but to power the 8 ball in down the rail with top spin, but the tight pockets on the Gold Crown V spat the ball out leaving Team USA a formality to win the game.
In the final match of the day, Rodney Morris looked a different player from the one who struggled through his earlier doubles match as he powered past Niels Feijen 6-1 to leave team captain Kim Davenport in an enviable position in the race to 11 match.
USA Team 6 – 4 Europe Team
Archer / Morris 4 – 6 Feijen / Souquet
Shane Van Boening 6 – 2 Daryl Peach
Strickland / Deuel 6 – 5 Drago / Stepanov
Rodney Morris 6 – 1 Niels Feijen