German Billiards Team Ousts Taiwan

German Billiards Team Ousts TaiwanThe German billiard team continued their march towards the PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool final with a fine victory against fifth seeds Taiwan.The German pairing of Thomas Engert and Oliver Ortmann secured a 9-4 success and will now meet either Philippines or the Czech Republic in the semi-final. Who do you think will win? Discuss World Cup of Pool here. View the World Cup of Pool Tournament BracketsA delighted Engert said: “I felt more confident and more calm than I did yesterday when we played against Spain as we knew, on paper, that we are the better team. But today we knew that Taiwan have Yang, who is one of the best players in the world, and we had to play well.
“We got our chances and took them but also got lucky when we missed a shot and they were in a bad position. I think we put them under pressure to go 5-2 ahead and they missed shots so we knew we had a chance to win.“When you play against a really good team it doesn’t matter how the game works as that’s your hardest match. In the first round (against Wales ) we only missed one shot and run out every game but it’s not always like that.”Germany won the lag and made a poor start as Ortmann missed a shot at the 1-ball but the Taiwanese pair of Yang Chnig-shun and Wang Hung-hsiang failed to capitalise as an attempt at the red three was wayward and the Germans took the lead.Taiwan broke and ran through the next rack and gained a 2-1 advantage shortly afterwards when Yang produced a fine shot on the blue two to set up a clear path through the rest of the balls.A fine jump shot by Ortmann to pot the 1-ball put Germany in charge of the next rack and a 5-9 combination made the scores level again.In the fifth Ortmann appeared to be in a tough position but bounced the cue ball off two rails to sink the 1-ball for 3-2 before a mistake from Yang in the next when he missed a shot at the red three, followed by a fine shot from Engert in potting the same ball made it 4-2.Germany had the break in the next and ran through to move three racks ahead and put the Taiwanese pair under some pressure, but they responded by taking the eighth rack.Taiwan had a chance to narrow the gap to one after Engert made a rare mistake and missed a shot at the blue two but Wang then did exactly the same and failed to take advantage of the error.That led to Germany making it 6-3 and when Yang overcut an attempt at the orange five when he should have played a safe shot Engert and Ortmann were 7-3 ahead and in sight of a last four spot.Taiwan were not playing at their best and had a chance in the next when Germany missed the green six but again could take full advantage as the Germans moved to the hill. It became 8-4 shortly afterwards but Germany claimed the 13th rack to seal the match and a 9-4 win.Engert admitted he is looking forward to the challenge of playing the Phillipines, if, as expected, they defeat the Czech Republic .“We know Philippines are two of the top players in the world,” said Engert. “But if you want to be the best then you have to beat the best. I keep saying to myself that I don’t want to lose; I want to be the champion. I’m not here for ninth, fifth or third place, I’m here to be the winner.”

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