Obviously, I am incredibly late to the party, but I stayed in London for many days after the Mosconi and have finally arrived home. For me, it is now time to reflect.
Perhaps the Mosconi Cup buzz is gone by now and many will not care what I have to say. I have not read any of the Mosconi threads, so I risk repeating what others have said. As I am sure it has been covered at length already, I will not reflect on the specifics of the play, choosing to focus on the event itself, the fan experience, and the state of the Mosconi Cup as an event.
The Result
It was hard to imagine anything but a rout, as Team USA, inexplicably, showed up with the same team that bombed in 2024, despite the frequent, sometimes profane, sharking of Team Europe’s players a year ago that gave Team USA an unsurpassed, and unfair, home court advantage. Going in, I felt 11-6 would be respectable but I feared worse.
Nobody is a bigger fan of Fargo than me, but Fargo offers little, if any, guidance when the same five players that have already been mauled on home soil try their hand on foreign soil. Fargo also fails to account for who is in form. For example, Moritz Neuhausen is playing as well as anyone in the world not named Yapp. In the last three months alone, he medaled at three elite events, winning the Peri Open, getting silver at the Hanoi Open, and getting bronze at the Qatar 10ball. He came in on fire and, unless his Fargo was taken at face value, nobody should have been too surprised that he was Mosconi MVP.
On balance, Team Europe was stronger than a year ago, with Filler back in the mix displaying his top form and two very capable rookies in Labutis and Neuhausen. Add these three to the always dependable veterans Shaw and Alcaide, and Team Europe was formidable.
Perhaps 11-3 overstates the extent of this massacre, but even if a few less mistakes had been made by Team USA, the eye test said that Team USA was way below Team Europe in pedigree. Europe won eighteen more racks than Team USA, which left little doubt about the size of the gap. Put another way, Europe won over 58% of the racks played. Put a third way, even with a game on the wire in every match, Team USA would have still lost this Mosconi by 8-6. No contest!
Europe is Building for the Future, America is Not
For me, personally, the most unpleasant takeaway from this year’s Mosconi is that Europe built for the future with two twenty-something rookies getting their first taste of the Mosconi Cup. Europe is laying the foundation for future Mosconi Cup success while America is not. Hence, the future for Team USA looks at least as bleak as the present.
Let us not be delusional. Europe might well have won if they had fielded the under-25 team of Moritz Neuhausen, Kledio Kaci, Mickey Krause, Jonas Souto, and Szymon Kural, each of them Fargo 792 or better and each Top 100 in the world based on Fargo. Europe continues to develop many great young players, while America produces few.
The Fan Experience
As always, the fan experience was great. Nobody sets up an arena as well as Matchroom! The vibe at the event was electric and the camaraderie among the attending fans was patently obvious. The music was great, which is a given at the Mosconi.
For those that had VIP tickets, the dinner buffet was very nice and the room in which it took place was impressive. Alexandra Palace is a great arena, but getting there and getting home from there is not so easy. Still, Matchroom calls the Mosconi Cup “the biggest party in pool” and that is exactly what it is.
As usual, Emily Frazer was a most welcoming hostess, making a sincere effort to mix with many of the attendees.
European Fans
They were enthusiastic and sometimes rowdy but, with rare exception, they kept it tasteful. They could have easily sought retribution in the wake of the pathetic behavior of American fans at the 2024 Mosconi, but did not. Whether the 2026 American fans in Orlando return to civility is to be determined, but it can no longer be suggested that the European fans are less respectful of the players than American fans. For now, the opposite is true.
Referees
I was very disappointed with the referees in 2024 as they often tolerated unruly, sometimes profane, fan behavior even while players were down over the shot. This year, they made sure to rein in any fans that got out of line while players were over the shot and it added greatly to the competitive integrity of the event. Let us add that few, if any, poor calls were made by the referees. Well done!
Overall
This Mosconi reinforced just how far apart the US and Europe are as cueists. If Team USA in 2026 is unchanged from the last two years, unless Team Europe brings its “C” game, another massacre is likely. I will not knock the Team USA players. They are true professionals who gave it their best and conducted themselves admirably and with good sportsmanship, but I am sure that even they realize how far behind Europe they have fallen.
How to Fix It
Team USA needs to go young sooner rather than later. Why not bring in one or more of Lukas Verner, Lazaro Martinez, Sam Henderson, Nathan Childress, Eric Roberts, and Payne McBride (I am probably forgetting someone) and develop our best young players to build for the future. In my opinion, they have all shown great promise.
If we steadfastly refuse to go young, perhaps it is time to expand participation to include all the Americas, including Canada, USA, Mexico, Central America, and South America, which could bring the likes of Alex Pagulayan, John Morra, Jesus Atencio and Gerson Martinez into play.
Summation
The Mosconi Cup remains a great, entertaining event, but something must be done to make it more competitive. This year’s formula of bringing back a Team USA that was manhandled in 2024 on home soil almost guaranteed failure. At the very least, we all deserve a new edition of Team USA.
I hope we, in America, will not be delusional about this result. What might have been is irrelevant. The result was not about poor preparation, poor coaching, or poor mental game. It was not about poor lagging or poor breaking. It was about substandard decision making and poor execution of the shots.
Remediation must take place in the practice room. Unless one believes that Europeans are more naturally gifted at pool than Americans, they cannot deny that European cueists are outworking American ones, and they have the results to prove it.
Well played, Europe, but for America, it is time to regroup.
