sjm said:

... I'd really like to see this event succeed in a big way. The idea is a great one, but to this point, the event is failing to live up to its potential. I have complete confidence that the good folks at Matchroom will figure out how to fix this.

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I think it takes time. It took the Mosconi Cup over 20 years to turn into a real financial success.

Taxi said:

I think a vote among AZB Forum members would've produced a more competitive ROW team than we saw today. There's no excuse for Sky to be there instead of Filler, regardless of the fact that he's a native born American.

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a vote on AZB would have led to Sky being on the team.

OMG, I wish they wouldn't show matches these which offer the worst of some bona fide champions.

Bustamante has a choice to make. He could play AJ in a singles on Day 2 given the 4-0 lead. Put Manas out there when the pressure is less. If he won, vs, a Shaw or Fedor, it would really deflate Team World. They'd be toast.

But what if ROW wins the team match? At 4-1, does Busty still put AJ out there? He loses, and it's 4-2.

If I were Busty, I might put out Manas if Team Asia has a 5-0 lead.

If 4-1, I'd go with Chua. Try to keep that lead. Chua was clearly the best player on Team Asia on Day 1. Then follow up with Yapp with the other singles match of the day.

I expect ROW to put out Fedor for the first singles match and Shaw for the second singles match. Moritz and FSR would be the first doubles pairing. Sky and Shaw/Gorst would be the second.

jbart65 said:

The only suspect pick on Team Asia is Manas. And he has performed quite well. The Ko brothers are in China for heyball and were not available anyway.



Sky did not deserve to be on this team, but Shaw did. He is still one of the best performers in the world and has been a Mosconi standout. Pool needs great players who are also showman. That's Shaw.

WPA/Predator have their own "welfare" recipients, too. Lot of guys high in the WPA rankings would haven't done squat on the WNT tour, but they get auto invites to most big WPA events.

I see your point, though. These two groups have to learn how to play nice, esp MR.

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Jayson Is not nearly what he used to be. Let's see his showmanship when he gets his butt kicked. Matter of fact, he is known to make excuses whenever he loses. BTW, MVP for Mosconi is based on a point system and Jayson played most matches in the those he won MVP, nothing spectacular about that.

straightline said:

What about pattern play? I have this impression that Mosconi always played in the classical style of ball and pattern logic, playing deliberately tight patterns. Is there that much of a contrast to today's norm of devil may care just don't miss anything?

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Can't honestly say.

I saw Mosconi in the late 60's early 70's when I was a teenager and had just gotten bit by the pool bug. I wasn't qualified back then to analyze pattern play. I just knew he made it look ridiculously easy and I would have to say that to this day I've never seen another player shoot who made me feel that way.

Many, many years ago I read something on Mosconi that stuck with me. I believe he was asked something about his exhibitions and he said words to the effect: I'm on the road a lot and usually the rooms are pretty full because fathers bring their sons telling them, "Tonight you're going to see the greatest pool player who ever lived and a 100 ball run." And then Mosconi would come in and do it and fulfilled all those expectations. I can't imagine how he dealt with that but he was so good he could do it.

Lou Figueroa

mikepage said:

Yes, exactly. Turns out Chang (and Mika…) are already marked as deceased in our system. That means they are intended to be excluded from the top player lists. And they are in fact excluded with the lists the way most people access them—through the mobile APP.

There are also lists accessed from the website through which we recently learned deceased players are not excluded. That is our error, and we are working on fixing it.

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Thanks Mike. It's not as if we'll ever forget our beloved deceased players, but the rankings are for the living.

rjb1168 said:

My wife felt the same way, she passed May 17 and here I am alone and missing her so much.

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I’m so sorry for your loss.

jbart65 said:

Even Johan would not have been able to stem the tide.

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Agreed 100%. I have always felt that the role of the coach is near zero once this kind of event begins. The coach's work is to prepare the team to succeed prior to the event.

I can't blame Jeremy in any way for having to go to bat with a team featuring nobody that has won a Matchroom major in 2025 while Filler, the 2025 European Open champion, and Labutis, the 2025 Hanoi Open, sit on the sidelines. Asia has three guys who are in peak form right now in Biado (World 9ball champ in July), Chua (bronze at the US Open 9ball in August), and Yapp (3 WNT major titles in WNT, most recently at the US Open 9ball in August). That's a little too much to fade.

The best thing that could happen is a blowout here, as it might prompt Matchroom to take the Reyes Cup selection process a little more seriously a year from now. This year's team match is a referendum on nothing.

I'd really like to see this event succeed in a big way. The idea is a great one, but to this point, the event is failing to live up to its potential. I have complete confidence that the good folks at Matchroom will figure out how to fix this.

No word on future U.S. tournament yet. Those announcements tend to come on the second to last or last day of an event.

Day 2 lineups aren't out yet, but the format we do know:

1)Team match.
2) Single
3) Doubles
4) Single
5) Doubles