davidbehrens
Member
Per Matchroom: https://matchroompool.com/news/draw-made-for-2022-world-cup-of-pool/
A couple of interesting things about this draw, imo. Firstly, and unsurprisingly, no Team Russia. Geopolitics aside, it's unfortunate that Gorst doesn't get to shine in some of these Matchroom events.
On that note, I thought Matchroom may invite a Ukrainian team. There are some good Ukrainian players and given the inclusion of some teams like Serbia, Vietnam, Hungary, Hong Kong, etc., it would have been feasible, but no such luck.
Whatever happened to China? They're 3-time champs, most recently in 2018, and still have great players like Wu Jiaqing, Liu Haitao and Han Yu. Why have they disappeared from Matchroom events recently? Is it a Covid thing?
Seeding seems pretty off to me. Germany as #1 seems reasonable as they're defending champs and Filler is playing superhuman pool. But I think some teams are pretty overrated (Philippines[5], Singapore[6], Greece[8], Hungary[10]), while others seem very underrated (Taiwan[9], Poland[15], Netherlands[16]).
I get that Efren is the GOAT, but precise ball pocketing is not what made him the GOAT, and now he's basically coming out of retirement to play on 4-inch pockets with 67-year-old eyes. Is it really worth having him there considering how badly it could go? Matchroom could have easily picked Dennis Orcollo, who is playing well and would probably draw a lot of viewers who have been missing him ever since visa issues screwed him out of playing in the U.S. (same goes for Aranas). There are tons of great Filipino players who could contend to win it all with Biado, and it seems low for Matchroom to toss Efren into an event at this level just for ratings.
Some of the supposedly randomly drawn matchups look pretty fishy. Main examples are Great Britain A vs. Great Britain B, USA vs. Canada, and Greece vs. Cyprus.
I predict a Final Four of Taiwan, Spain, Austria and USA, and I'd make Spain the favorite to win it all. Who else has thoughts?
A couple of interesting things about this draw, imo. Firstly, and unsurprisingly, no Team Russia. Geopolitics aside, it's unfortunate that Gorst doesn't get to shine in some of these Matchroom events.
On that note, I thought Matchroom may invite a Ukrainian team. There are some good Ukrainian players and given the inclusion of some teams like Serbia, Vietnam, Hungary, Hong Kong, etc., it would have been feasible, but no such luck.
Whatever happened to China? They're 3-time champs, most recently in 2018, and still have great players like Wu Jiaqing, Liu Haitao and Han Yu. Why have they disappeared from Matchroom events recently? Is it a Covid thing?
Seeding seems pretty off to me. Germany as #1 seems reasonable as they're defending champs and Filler is playing superhuman pool. But I think some teams are pretty overrated (Philippines[5], Singapore[6], Greece[8], Hungary[10]), while others seem very underrated (Taiwan[9], Poland[15], Netherlands[16]).
I get that Efren is the GOAT, but precise ball pocketing is not what made him the GOAT, and now he's basically coming out of retirement to play on 4-inch pockets with 67-year-old eyes. Is it really worth having him there considering how badly it could go? Matchroom could have easily picked Dennis Orcollo, who is playing well and would probably draw a lot of viewers who have been missing him ever since visa issues screwed him out of playing in the U.S. (same goes for Aranas). There are tons of great Filipino players who could contend to win it all with Biado, and it seems low for Matchroom to toss Efren into an event at this level just for ratings.
Some of the supposedly randomly drawn matchups look pretty fishy. Main examples are Great Britain A vs. Great Britain B, USA vs. Canada, and Greece vs. Cyprus.
I predict a Final Four of Taiwan, Spain, Austria and USA, and I'd make Spain the favorite to win it all. Who else has thoughts?
