Europe 11 – 3 USA
Jayson Shaw 5 – 1 Mike Dechaine
THE EUROPEANS needed just one match to retain the 2016 Betfair Mosconi Cup as Jayson Shaw had the honour of potting the winning 9 ball as he eased past Mike Dechaine 5-1 to spark wild celebrations at the Alexandra Palace. Team Europe entered the fray carrying a 10-3 lead after dominating the first three days of the competition and they delivered a crushing defeat to an American side that looked out of their depth at times in front of a very vocal 2,000 strong crowd.
Shaw, who came into the event on the back of a run of brilliant form, never looked too comfortable over the first three days. However, he came with some terrific shots to banish Dechaine to the sidelines and secure the European’s seventh consecutive victory.
A delighted Shaw said, “There were a lot of nerves out there but you have to stay calm and take every ball one at a time. It is easy to get hyped up with everyone screaming. It felt pretty good to make the winning 9 ball. I had a pretty good year and had a couple of dreams about making the final 9 ball and it came true.
“We have five great guys on the team who all fight for each other and support each other, stick together. Now I have played in it, I want to play the Mosconi Cup every year.”
For Europe it was a case of strength to strength under captain Marcus Chamat. After last year’s 11-7 win at the Tropicana, the emotional Swede fired his team up to further feats at the Alexandra Palace.\
“It has been an amazing week; how could you top what happened last year, but this year we came out firing,” said Chamat.
“I used to live in America and I know what these guys are about. They will bounce back, America never gives up but this is probably the best team in the world, ever. I know they are watching in China, in the Philippines, well we will put these guys on a plane and come over.
“At the start of the week we said the six of us are in this together, no matter what happens. Everybody is behind each other and this is the best team in the world – we just showed it.”
For once Niels Feijen kept his hands off the MVP trophy as Albin Ouschan’s three doubles wins and a singles win were enough to give the reigning World Champion the trophy in his second Mosconi Cup.
“Before I played last year I had watched the Mosconi Cup for over ten years and always looked up to the people who won the MVP so it is a huge pleasure for me to be here with the MVP award in my hands. It has been a huge year and I am speechless.
“The Mosconi Cup gets bigger and bigger and more intense every year. Hopefully I will be back next year in Vegas and we will win it again. We were probably the best team on paper and we showed it, it was perfect.”
The Americans will need to look inwards as they try and regroup for next year. They have now won the Mosconi Cup just once in the past 11 years with bleak prospects for next December in Las Vegas. Shane Van Boening, unequivocally their best player, failed to record a single point, likewise Mike Dechaine who finished second in the year long Mosconi Cup rankings.
Their dejected captain Mark Wilson said, “Complete respect for the professionalism of Team Europe, they played great from start to finish and kept us off balance throughout the week. My five guys never quit, did everything I asked of them all week and I have great pride and respect for my team. I believe in them and we will be back.
“We need to begin working from January forward to compete with the great team that Europe has.”
第23屆莫斯考尼盃歐美對抗賽於英國倫敦的亞歷山德拉宮 (Alexandra Palace) 落下帷幕，在最後一場較量中，歐洲隊的新秀Jayson Shaw 5-1橫掃美國名將Mike Dechaine，幫助歐洲隊最終以11-3的比分大勝美國隊，連續第7次捧起莫斯考尼盃。第二次參賽的現任世界冠軍、奧地利名將Albin Ouschan憑藉3場雙打和1場單打的勝利榮獲本屆比賽MVP稱號。
莫斯考尼盃是一項一年一度的國際性花式撞球團體賽事，由歐洲和美國各選出5名當年表現最出色的球員組成隊伍進行對抗，率先取得11場勝利的球隊即奪得莫斯考尼盃。從創辦至今，賽事已經成功舉辦了22屆，本屆賽事開始前，歐洲隊已經連續6次捧得莫斯考尼盃，今年的比賽是第23屆賽事，舉辦地是英國倫敦的亞歷山德拉宮。
首個比賽日的5場角逐，歐洲隊贏得了其中4場勝利，僅僅是Jayson Shaw/Darren Appleton輸掉了與Skyler Woodward/Justin Bergman組合的雙打較量，取得4-1的完美開局。
比賽次日，歐洲隊狀態不減，成功拿下3場比賽勝利，將比分優勢擴大為7-2。第三比賽日，歐洲隊繼續攻營拔寨，在當天以3-1結束比賽後，歐洲隊以10-3的巨大領先優勢奪得賽點。
最後一天的比賽，此前狀態不佳的Jayson Shaw終於迎來爆發，5-1橫掃Dechaine，將總比分定格在了11-3，歐洲隊完勝收場。隨著Shaw的比賽結束，本屆賽事也宣告落幕，歐洲隊連續第7次捧起莫斯考尼盃。而第二次參賽的Albin Ouschan則憑借3場雙打和1場單打的勝利榮獲本屆比賽MVP稱號。
榮膺MVP的Ouschan難掩激動，他興奮地說：“在我去年參加莫斯考尼盃之前，我有看過超過10年的莫斯考尼盃比賽，我也總會看誰是最後的MVP，所以，當我自己拿到MVP的時候，我感到非常開心，對我來說這是一個巨大的榮耀。過去一年真的好棒，我有些不知道說什麽了”。
稍微平靜以後，Ouschan補充說道：“莫斯考尼盃一年比一年壯大，也變得更加激烈，希望明年在拉斯維加斯的比賽我也能參加，並再次贏得勝利”。
The Betfair Mosconi Cup is the annual Europe v USA 9 ball showdown. It runs from Tuesday 6th to Friday 9th December with all sessions getting underway at 18.30 GMT. There are a potential 21 singles and doubles matches with the first team to reach 11 carrying off the famous trophy.
2016 MOSCONI CUP is sponsored Betfair. Rasson Billiards supply the Official Table. The cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith by Saluc. Predator is the Official Cue of the event and Ultimate Team Gear provide all Mosconi Cup apparel.
Luke Riches, Matchroom Sport: [email protected]
Notes: MATCHROOM SPORT is one of the world’s leading producers of televised sport and is responsible for over 1,000 hours of original programming across a range of sports. Based in the UK and chaired by charismatic founder Barry Hearn, they operate three pool events; the Mosconi Cup, the World Cup of Pool and the World Pool Masters. In addition, the company produce a multitude of events in darts, snooker, tenpin, golf, fishing, ping pong, poker and boxing.
master