Team USA Leads Mosconi Cup 3-2

Team USA Leads Mosconi Cup 3-2Team USA completed a terrific comeback on Day 1 of the 2005 Mosconi Cup as they came from 2-0 down to win three games in a row to carry a 3-2 lead into the second day of competition. With the scores poised at 2 apiece the final doubles match of the day, the Euro pairing of team captain Mika Immonen and Sweden’s Marcus Chamat fought back from 4-0 down to tie the match up at 4-4 and leave opponents Earl Strickland and Rodney Morris reeling. However, the match ended in controversial circumstances as Chamat time-fouled after the cue ball ran out of position. The clock and audible bleep, which counts down the final five seconds, failed to go off properly and, following deliberation with tournament officials, referee Michaela Tabb allowed the Swedish player to play the shot.
He fouled, though, and from there, the Americans cleared to take the match. By that time, though, Strickland’s ever-shortening fuse was about to blow. Firstly, he walked out on a live TV interview with Sky Sports’ presenter Andy Goldstein and then became embroiled in an unsightly slanging match with European supporters. “You suck, you suck, all of London sucks!” yelled the three-time world champion before being visibly restrained by his captain Johnny Archer. Archer / Jones 1 - 5 Hohmann / Feijen Team Europe drew first blood as the team of Niels “The Terminator” Feijen and 2003 world champ Thorsten Hohmann defeated U.S. pair Johnny Archer and Jeremy “Double J” Jones in the opening scotch doubles match. As crowds gathered at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, a one-sided encounter went the way of the visitors to America as they soon found their stroke. The new shot clock was put to the test in the tournament's first rack with Feijen using his full allowance – including a 30 second extension – after a snooker by Jones. After a lengthy spell without a ball being dropped, the Europeans finally ran out for the tournament's first rack. They doubled the lead by taking the second before America got off the mark in Rack 3. Europe moved to the hill before Archer scratched in Rack 6 and the Europeans ran out to seal the early point. "A winning start is very important,” Hohmann said. "I believe the pressure is on the U.S., being defending champions, but we've got a very strong, young team and we're confident." Feijen added, "We try to go out there and be as competitive as possible but also try and enjoy ourselves. "As soon as I practiced with Thorsten on Wednesday, we had a good tempo and stroke from the start." "It's nice to get a little nick in their confidence early,” European captain Mika Immonen said after watching his teammates set the ball rolling. "Our strategy is to hit first and to hit hard, and if we can get a lead, it'll be good for our confidence." Johnny Archer 2-5 Mika Immonen Immonen, captaining Europe for the first time in his lengthy Mosconi Cup career, put in a stellar performance in the opening singles match of the event as he bested rival captain Johnny Archer 5-2. That gave Europe a 2-0 lead, and even at this early stage, there is a business-like look about the team. Immonen crunched home four balls on the opening break of the match and proceeded to take rack to put Europe one to the good. He had a golden chance to increase his lead in the next after Archer left an open table following a failed safety kick on the 1 ball. After going through the rack, the European captain missed an elementary 9 ball into the middle pocket, and his opposite number had no hesitation in depositing the 9 into the same pocket to even things up. Immonen enjoyed a piece of good fortune in the third rack as his cross-bank attempt on the 1 ball into the corner pocket was nudged in by the returning cue ball. From there he ran out to regain the lead. Archer miscued in the next trying to play a safety on the 2 ball and left ball in hand for the Europeans, and from there Immonen ran through the rack to get to 3-1. The Finn missed a shot on the 2 when it was tied up with 3 ball, and Archer cleared the table to get back to 2-3. Immonen got to the hill in the next as he completed a nervy run, failing to retain good position throughout. The Finn completed victory in what was the final rack to put Team Europe 2-0 ahead. “I capitalized on his mistakes,” he said afterwards. “The opening singles match is always an important one and being captain, there is more pressure, but it is an honour to captain this team. “I’m not sure what happened when I missed that nine ball in the second rack - maybe the shot clock caused that?” added Immonen. Williams / Putnam 5 – 3 Lely / Hundal The USA recorded their first point as Charlie Williams and Shawn Putnam saw off the challenge of Alex Lely and Raj Hundal. In a match that featured the tournament's two debutantes – Putnam and Hundal – there were plenty of nerves on display as both Europeans missed shots which proved costly. The American duo ran the first rack from Putnam's break before Europe repeated the trick to level the score. Rack 3 saw Hundal leave Putnam in a tricky situation on the 1 ball, but he pulled a wonder shot out of the bag, and he and Williams then cleared the table to re-establish the U.S. lead. Hundal downed three balls on his first break of the game, and the road map layout left Europe a path to 2-2. With racks going on break, America were still in the driving seat, but a slack shot by Williams on the 4 ball in the fifth rack left a gap open for the Europeans to seize the initiative by clearing the remaining balls. The pink ball was proving both team's Achilles heel, though, as Lely undercut it towards the top right corner pocket in the next, and Williams, with the help of a time extension, regained control of the table to draw matters even. Williams' break in the seventh rack left a tough shot on the 1 ball for his partner, and a lengthy discussion followed with the shot clock not in operation for the first shot after a break. They pushed out, and Hundal produced a magnificent shot to leave Williams hooked and forced into a jump shot, which he fouled on. But America was let back in when Lely left Hundal a tough shot on the 8 ball, and he missed into the middle left, leaving the final two balls a formality for America to reach the hill. Lely tried to hook Williams on the 4 ball in Rack 8 but left it on for a long pot, which he made, and then Putnam hooked Hundal on the 6. The Englishman escaped but left the pot on for Putnam, who missed a simple straight shot on the 6. Lely made a 6-8 combination and left a 6-7 on for Hundal, who bravely attempted it, but a messy shot left the 6 on for Williams, and the U.S. cleared to take their first point. "I wasn't nervous, but I was anxious to get going and perform to the level I was supposed to,” Putnam said. "This is my first time in the Mosconi Cup, so there is more pressure on the rest of the team – I'm just here for the ride, but hopefully next year I can be a defending champion too." "We didn't miss a shot until the very end, but we capitalized on the European's misses, added Williams. "I'm naturally a fast player and I like the shot clock, but it was an important match so I took my time – I didn't want to do anything too aggressive.” Charlie Williams 5-3 Niels Feijen Williams delivered another stunning Mosconi Cup show as he took out top European Niels Feijen to drag Team USA back to parity with one final match of the first day to play. Williams looked smooth as butter as he ran out the first rack in double-quick time. Feijen, though, who came into the Mosconi Cup as the EPBF European No.1 and WPA World No.1, matched his opponent in the second as he completed a comfortable clearance. “The Korean Dragon,” now based in Orlando, delivered more of the same in the third to reclaim his lead. Williams was one of the players for whom it was thought that the shot clock would prove troublesome, but he dispelled that notion emphatically as he took the fourth rack to leave the Dutchman in trouble. Feijen, though, was made of sterner stuff, as he played outstandingly to recover. The fifth was another break-and-run before Feijen tied it with a superb table-length 9 ball along the rail following a miss from Williams. Williams stayed in gear in the next as he once again ran out from the start, and a dry break shot from Feijen in the eighth allowed the Dragon to play safe. Fortune favoured the Dutchman as he fluked the 7 ball, playing safe on the 1. However, he ran out of position travelling from the 4 to the 5 and missed a tough cut to allow Williams back to the table. Williams ran out of position on the 6, though, and was forced to take a time extension. He held his nerve though and obtained great shape on the 8 ball. With the American crowd cheering him home, Williams rolled the 9 ball home to tie things up. “I was happy with that win for sure, but the previous match with Shawn took the pressure off, he said afterwards. “After five years in this event, I’m a little more seasoned. With the scotch doubles, it’s hard to get a rhythm, but in the singles I can really get into the groove that’s how I like to play. “Yesterday at the dinner, Mika said that this might be best Mosconi Cup ever and I think he will be proved right. “This win means a lot for us to stay close. Normally they are strong in the doubles so that feels pretty good,” added Williams. Strickland / Morris 5-4 Immonen / Chamat The U.S. claimed an overnight lead after the first day's play of the 2005 Mosconi Cup thanks to a dramatic fifth match. The American pair of Earl Strickland and Rodney Morris found themselves 4-0 ahead before Team Europe captain Mika Immonen and his partner Marcus Chamat dragged themselves back level only to lose the final rack in controversial circumstances. At the start of the first rack Morris missed a 3-8 billiard, but Chamat was left snookered by his partner and couldn't pot the 4 with the aid of his jump cue. The pink ball stayed up for several shots before Immonen missed a long pot attempt and left the table open for the Americans to clear. Morris lost the cue ball with his half-speed break in Rack 2, but once back at the table, he wasted little time doubling the lead, sinking a 5-9 combination to take the rack. Chamat's break didn't leave his partner a pottable shot on the 1 ball, but a wayward effort left it hanging for Strickland, and the score was soon 3-0. A run-out took the home side to the hill before Europe avoided a whitewash with a break-and-run. America then looked poised for victory when Chamat fouled again on a jump shot in the next, clipping the 9 ball when aiming for the 1, but Strickland took on a risky 1-9 which he missed to keep the European pair breathing as they cleared for 4-2. Immonen had no fortune in Rack 7, scratching on the break and then finding himself left in a nasty snooker on the 2 ball before being forced into a two-cushion escape at pace that resulted in a scratch. But Morris left Strickland a tough cut on the 5, and he failed to pot it, allowing Europe to clear to move to within one rack. Strickland's eighth rack break left no shot on the 1 ball and he then fouled after being snookered on the 2. The Europeans remarkably forced a decider by clearing – but in the final rack, which Immonen broke, no shot was left on the 1 ball, and Chamat produced a clever snooker that Morris escaped from, only for Immonen to repeat his partner's trick with the same shot. Strickland scratched with what looked like a suicidal shot, but Immonen left Chamat stuck, and drama ensued as the pair called for a 30-second time extension only for the clock to malfunction and only beep twice, instead of five times over the final seconds. Referee Michaela Tabb called foul, but after protests from the Scandinavians that they only heard two beeps, she allowed Chamat the chance to take the shot regardless. He fouled anyway, and the Americans cleared to squeeze over the line after it had looked like their chance had passed. "I don't like the way the audience acts - we need to be able to do our job without people putting their ten cents in," Strickland said before storming out of the live televised interview. "I was very nervous and scared when they were coming back – I almost didn't want to play,” added a more relaxed Morris with a wink and a smile.Visit InsidePOOL Magazine for the latest pool and billiards news.

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