Okay, here's my take on the proceedings. Stu has got it right, their shot election and execution is superior to ours. That said, we had chances to win every match but failed when given an opportunity to win. It was NOT about the rolls, please save that for your crying towel. We missed more balls and didn't execute our safeties as well. In short matches like this, one error can make the difference and it did today in two of the four matches. When Bergman fouled in game one that took all the starch out of him and Gray just took over after that.
I felt that our players were trying hard today, but other than Justin just couldn't get on track. I feel for Mike Dechaine. He looks much looser than in previous MC, but seems to be over thinking on relatively easy shots, like that 2-9 combo that he butchered. I wanted him to take one look and get up there and make it. You know what they say, "think long, think wrong." Rodney played well to win our lone match, only missing twice in one game. Other than that, he played pretty strong throughout. That win gave our team a lift. Too bad we couldn't capitalize with a win in the doubles afterwards. We sure had our chances to win that KEY match.
I thought Darren played better today and Albin came up with a great shot from the four to the five. By far the most improved European player of the last few years. Albin has transformed himself into a very confident world class player. Jayson has always played great, maturing incredibly since marriage and fatherhood. I fully expect him to play good tomorrow.
As for the abbreviated session, this is not the first time they've done this for television purposes. They would like it to stretch to a fourth day if possible. Maybe we can go 2-2 tomorrow and that way they're guaranteed at least two matches on Day Four. They just did the same thing two years ago and we managed to win two matches on the final day to get to 10-9.
I thought Phil Yates did a nice job on the commentary today and overall I like the team doing it. Jimmy is one of the best imo and Jerry has his good moments as well. :wink: He messed up a couple of times, but give a senior citizen a break already. OMG he's almost as old as me and I'm a dinosaur!
P.S. All this talk about the size and population of Europe compared to the USA is meaningless babble! We have far more pool players here and a lot more opportunities to play. If anything we have them way outnumbered. Bottom line, their best are better than our best. I can remember when Australia with it's small population dominated world tennis. It's not the size of your country that counts, it's the size of your heart!
P.P.S. I'm still not sure that Europe could beat Team Philippines or Team Taiwan for that matter. Again country size and population means little in this equation. Let me pick five top Filipinos and I will take on the world. These guys refuse to lose!
