Mosconi Cup 2025, Dec. 3-6, Alexandra Palace, London

jeephawk said:
But both teams are playing the same table - is the table really a discriminator?
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Yes.

I grant all day long that the Europeans are the superior team and inherent in that is the ability to adjust to different equipment. But the instances where our guys are failing to get out, to me, it’s more out of a lack of familiarity (and perhaps a bit of fear of those pockets) with the equipment than much else.

Lou Figueroa
 
SA96 said:
It won't happen, but if Team USA take today's session 4-1 or 5-0, then tomorrow would start at 6-6 or 7-5...

I wonder if the venue has a curfew?
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It’s not as far fetched as that. Tyler will redeem himself team game can be won with a couple of nice rolls. Svb is favourite against alcaide. Then one of the doubles can be won.
Also - shout out to the person who suggested the gorilla glue- loving it!!
 
Biggest surprise to me on Day Two was Shane Van Boening emerging as the leader. I did not expect that.

But now that he has, I think SVB has to be the leader from now on. Forget that he supposedly doesn't have the personality. He can do it - he just did. He is a lead by example kind of guy.

With Sky in the doubles match, SVB gave him pointers. He also stayed calm and looked confident. Woodward basically shut up and just played. No hamming it up for the crowd. At one point, Shane was saying, it's not over yet. He kept Woodward focused.

I've got a theory about this. Shane was basically forced to take a backseat for the past two years to Gorst and Sky. He wasn't sure what his role should be.

First, Gorst gets on Team USA and he gets scheduled to be the top dog. Jeremy Jones rushed him out in a bunch of singles matches, signaling lack of trust in Shane. And Shane went along without complaint.

Gorst didn't earn the hero-to-be role, and still hasn't.

Next Sky becomes player captain for two years. Thus SVB is shunted to the third position on the team.

Now? All of a sudden, he is stepping up and trying to get the team to focus after the worst start in Mosconi history.

I don't care about SVB's Mosconi record. He is still the best US, and US-born player, and he should be expected to lead given his age and experience. He doesn't have to be a formal leader, but lead he should and must to make the US competitive.

To that end, no more SVB-Gorst pairings. They are not fully comfortable with each other and need to serve as anchor for other players.

The US also has to start showing some strategy and unpredictability in pairings. Backload some matches with our best guys. Throw a Ty or Billy out against Filler. Who knows, they might get lucky, and we'd get SVB or Gorst facing off against an Alcaide or Pijus.
 
jbart65 said:
Biggest surprise to me on Day Two was Shane Van Boening emerging as the leader. I did not expect that.

But now that he has, I think SVB has to be the leader from now on. Forget that he supposedly doesn't have the personality. He can do it - he just did. He is a lead by example kind of guy.

With Sky in the doubles match, SVB gave him pointers. He also stayed calm and looked confident. Woodward basically shut up and just played. No hamming it up for the crowd. At one point, Shane was saying, it's not over yet. He kept Woodward focused.

I've got a theory about this. Shane was basically forced to take a backseat for the past two years to Gorst and Sky. He wasn't sure what his role should be.

First, Gorst gets on Team USA and he gets scheduled to be the top dog. Jeremy Jones rushed him out in a bunch of singles matches, signaling lack of trust in Shane. And Shane went along without complaint.

Gorst didn't earn the hero-to-be role, and still hasn't.

Next Sky becomes player captain for two years. Thus SVB is shunted to the third position on the team.

Now? All of a sudden, he is stepping up and trying to get the team to focus after the worst start in Mosconi history.

I don't care about SVB's Mosconi record. He is still the best US, and US-born player, and he should be expected to lead given his age and experience. He doesn't have to be a formal leader, but lead he should and must to make the US competitive.

To that end, no more SVB-Gorst pairings. They are not fully comfortable with each other and need to serve as anchor for other players.

The US also has to start showing some strategy and unpredictability in pairings. Backload some matches with our best guys. Throw a Ty or Billy out against Filler. Who knows, they might get lucky, and we'd get SVB or Gorst facing off against an Alcaide or Pijus.
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Good post. Another factor that ties in with your post is that, since the addition of Fedor, and the elevation of Sky, SVB might not feel like he HAS to carry the team. It could be that he is able to play a lot more relaxed just not having to be "Captain America"...
 
SBC said:
Exactly....2 rails up above side or around the world 3 or 4 rails to the same place.

Inexcusable.
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Tyler also cost us a point on that missed nine ball in the team match. It was even easier than the missed shape on the two rail position. That's a four point swing on those two matches! Making just those two shots alone and the score would be Euro 4, USA 3 right now. Tyler's game looks like it regressed five years overnight. Or maybe it's just the MC jitters.

I remember when it happened to Dechaine in the MC about ten years ago. He started missing everything, literally couldn't make a ball unless it was hanging in the hole. He was a nervous wreck and it showed.
 
garczar said:
C'mon man. The wholesale dogging display i've watched has nothing to do with the equipment. That's just a cop-out pure-n-simple. These guys have played pool their whole life, if they can't figure a table out in a couple practice sessions they shouldn't even be there.
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Adjusting is what Americans have excelled at. I’m sure there’s more to what’s happening to our team than we know.
 
Tyler tends to baby shots the closer he gets to the finish line. He lacks the confidence to let his stroke out and swing the ball around like Filler or SVB will do. His caution kills him time and again. He'll move the ball as little as possible and leave himself tough.

The U.S. really should have won both team matches. In the second one, I trace the problems back to Thorpe taking on a bank while playing Labutis. Makeable bank, but the safe bet in a team game is play safe and keep the pressure on Pijus.

Europe deploys this tactic all the time. The US not as much, and it's cost them.
 
ribdoner said:
the most loose of the loose is FILLER, the positional routes he chose on a couple of shots were mind bending
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Agree, and the speed off the rail with reverse English was perfect as well.

With out a doubt Joshua is one hell of a player.

Practice combined with natural talent equates to something special for him. Reminds me of Efren, they both make pool look so easy!
 
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