One more wildcard pick to go, I believe. Most expect it to be Sky Woodward.
Wouldn't that be nice? Going to bat with four of the five from last year's team that totally bombed in England. Seriously? Does swapping out Thorpe for Bergman actually make this a stronger team than the 2025 team? I would say no, it's about break even. It just makes Team USA a little older.
Unless we get Europe's "C" game, this is a no contest. Then again, we got Asia's "C" game at the Reyes Cup, so maybe it will prove contagious.
Bergman, who played his first WNT event in August, is a reasonable choice given the other available choices, but he had a terrible year without a single appearance in the Top 16 at a WNT ranking event and he's 39. Very reminiscent of Earl, an old player who was named to Team USA in a year in which he accomplished nothing. Skyler, to a large extent, sat out the WNT season and, like Bergman, never posted a top 16 in a Matchroom ranking event. Yes, he was once a committed and successful WNT player, but he has largely turned his back on the tour of late. A year ago, he was probably the worst playing captain in Mosconi Cup history. His pedigree is long since proven, but he has done nothing to earn a place on Team USA.
Matchroom needs to rethink all of this. The year after year after year exclusion of young players on Team USA is not only disturbing but it sets Team USA up for future failures. Seems the days of players not committed to or successful on the WNT being omitted from Team USA are over. Perhaps we need to return to the days of when there were no specified requirements, participation or other, for being a wildcard choice.
The only hope here lies in the fact that in 2018, Johann bucked the trend and selected somewhat unknown and largely unproven Tyler Styer to Team USA, and it worked, as Tyler was a key contributor to the winning effort that year. At least Johan has it in him to go young, At present, though, he's got a team consisting of a Russian and three Americans who have an average age of 38. If the last pick is the 33-year old Woodward, it will prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that young players are, for practical purpose, ineligible for Team USA consideration. The saddest part about that is that young American players, already suspicious of the process, will feel even more disincentivized to even try for inclusion on future editions of Team USA.
We know how badly Matchroom wants Team USA to win, but unless Emily either begs Team Europe to fire blanks or sharks the Team Europe players herself, we might need Team Europe to dog its brains out for Team USA to win eleven matches.
The only good news is that the Mosconi Cup is great fun no matter what the score is, so I'm looking forward to it.
