Studio Ballroom
MGM Grand
3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas
Nevada
USA
(702) 891-1111
www.mosconicup.com
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Thursday-Sunday 13-16 December 2007
Earl Strickland gets heated in his match with Ralf Souquet.
Photograph by Lawrence Lustig
USA 6 – 9 Europe
ANOTHER SUPERB day from the Europeans saw them move to within two points of winning the PartyPoker.net Mosconi Cup for the first time since 2002 as they won four of the five matches today to move into a 9-6 lead in the first-to-11 competition.
Singles wins from Tony Drago, Niels Feijen and Ralf Souquet were backed up by a doubles win from the young Russian Konstantin Stepanov and Feijen. Only Archer and Van Boening’s 6-3 win over Peach and Souquet saved the American’s from a complete whitewash.
"Read More..." for the details.
The Europeans found themselves in a similar position this time last year but captain Johan Ruijsink will surely have learned from last year’s mistakes.
“I know they will come back fighting and tomorrow will be a war but we will do exactly the same as we did today and yesterday. If we play our game we might win this one,” he said.
Konstantin Stepanov and Niels Feijen celebrate the first victory of the day.
Photograph by Lawrence Lustig
Europe got off to a great start as the pairing of Niels Feijen and Konstantin Stepanov secured a 6-2 victory over Johnny Archer and Corey Deuel to move the overall to 6-5 in the Europeans’ favour.
"Konstantin played awesome shots, he was really good," said Feijen. "We played awesomely yesterday and everyone played well but there was a bit of pressure for us to keep it going. Hopefully we can keep it up tomorrow."
Archer, who was the only player to not have won a match at this tournament, added: "I made a couple of bad mistakes and I'm just not playing well, that's all there is to it.
"I took a six / seven month lay-off but I don't have any excuses. I've been playing a lot over the last couple of months and you just can't get it back at the Mosconi Cup.”
The second match of the day saw Tony Drago record his third singles win with a 6-4 triumph over Corey Deuel.
Debutant Drago, who defeated Rodney Morris and Shane Van Boening yesterday, continued his fantastic tournament as Europe moved two ahead for the first time the tournament.
Despite his performances that have seen him become arguably the player of the event so far, Drago was still criticised by Deuel, who showed a lack of sportsmanship in a post-match interview.
"I feel he (Drago) is the softest draw in his team and all the other players are better than him," said Deuel.
"He feels good but got a lot of rolls. It's only a race to six and if he played a race to 100 with his team mates then he might get 50.
The European player responded in defiant fashion. "Corey I've just beaten and I've played Earl three times and beat him twice," said Drago.
"If I was a good player then imagine what I would do to them but unless we win, my good play counts for nothing."
The Americans recorded only their second win in eight matches as Johnny Archer was finally involved in a winning game.
Mosconi Cup veteran Archer was the last remaining player to have not helped secure a point for his team but that ended as he and Shane Van Boening defeated Daryl Peach and Konstantin Stepanov 6-3 in a doubles match.
"I'm trying really hard," said an emotional Archer. "That was huge to win that match and we just had to gut it out.
"I thought we played pretty well as a team. I'm very proud of Shane he played very well and kept me in there."
In a tense encounter, Team Europe opened up a two point gap as Niels Feijen won his second match of the day, beating Rodney Morris 6-4 in the penultimate match of the day.
It was Team Europe’s third win from four games today and it was a fine performance under pressure from the Dutchman.
He led 3-0 and then 4-2 but Morris, ever the fighter, tried to claw his way back into the match. Feijen took the next before Morris got the score back to 5-4. Feijen, though, ran out what was the final rack of the match after Morris failed to complete a legal break shot.
The final match of the day was a heated affair as Ralf Souquet looked supremely calm as he beat Earl Strickland 6-4.
Tony Drago gets passionate about pool.
Photograph by Lawrence Lustig
There were fireworks at the end as Strickland swore loudly at the German as he shook his hand and there was more drama as a heated Tony Drago raced out the stands and got involved.
Order was restored but it was a sickened looking American team that left the arena contemplating the huge task ahead of them tomorrow.
Play starts at 11.30am local time with a potential six singles matches.
Deuel / Archer 2 – 6 Stepanov / Feijen
Corey Deuel 4 – 6 Tony Drago
Archer / Van Boening 6 – 3 Peach / Souquet
Rodney Morris 4 – 6 Niels Feijen
Earl Strickland 4 – 6 Ralf Souquet
