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Total Triumph

Team Europe captured its sixth straight Mosconi Cup title, but the 2015 edition in Las Vegas was anything but the same old story.

Story by Mike Panozzo
Photos by JP Parmentier

Yes, the final score was 11-7. And, yes, Team Europe won its sixth consecutive Mosconi Cup. But years from now, 2015 may well be remembered as the year the venerable transatlantic team tournament catapulted from simply being an exciting pool tournament to becoming a legitimate sports happening.

Mosconi Cup XXII

There were many factors that contributed to Mosconi Cup XXII's next-level success. For starters, the arena at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas featured paid attendance in excess of 1,000 fans for each five-match session during the four-day event, more than doubling the previous standard for Mosconi Cups held in the U.S. Equally impressive was the fact that 70 percent of the fans who trekked to Las Vegas for the tournament were partisan to Team USA, an allegiance that was evidenced in the decibel level reached during the matches. In six previous appearances on U.S. soil, the Mosconi Cup fan base was, at best, 50-50, with the passionate, sing-song Euros routinely drowning out American fans. Promoter Matchroom Sport is expecting more than 2,000 fans at each session at the 2016 Mosconi Cup at London's storied Alexandra Palace, which should translate into increased media attention and, in turn, increased television and streaming viewership. "We've gone from 300-400 people in the arena to over 1,000, and growing," commented England's Darren Appleton, who played in his seventh consecutive Mosconi for Team Europe. "The atmosphere this year was mental! Toughest arena in the world to play pool, but, at the same time, the best by a mile."

"It's the biggest crowd we've ever played in front of," added Boyes. "And they really brought the noise. It was scary out there."

More importantly, the competitive gap between the mighty Europeans and their U.S. counterparts has appeared to narrow. After consecutive years in which Team USA was woefully overmatched, Mosconi Cup XXII was far closer than its 11-7 score might indicate. Nearly half of the 18 matches played in 2015 were hill-hill, with the teams splitting the eight decisive games. All three matches on the event's final day, including Mosconi debutante Albin Ouschan's dramatic 5-4 win over 22-year-old American Skyler Woodward to clinch the Cup for Europe, went the distance. In fact, the matches were so tight that Team USA was two shots from pushing to contest to a 9-9 deadlock in the race-to-11 format. The primary reason for hope among the U.S. pool community, of course, is youth. In addition to Woodward, who was making his Mosconi Cup debut, 28-year-old Justin Bergman dazzled in Las Vegas. Bergman and Woodward were brilliant in topping veteran Dutch teammates Niels Feijen and Nick van den Berg in doubles, and Bergman manhandled Darren Appleton in a critical head-to-head matchup on Day Three. Only a heartbreaking roll prevented Bergman from topping MVP Feijen on the final day and setting the table for an epic finish.

While Team Europe's core -Appleton (39), Feijen (38) and Mosconi marvel Karl Boyes (33) - are all 33 or older (and van den Berg is 35), only Corey Deuel (38) eclipsed that mark on 2015's version of Team USA. (Team USA leader Shane Van Boening is still only 32, while Mike Dechaine is just 28.) The current scenario is reminiscent of the early 2000s, when Team USA was led by veterans like Johnny Archer, Earl Strickland and Rodney Morris, and Team Europe's Mika Immonen, Ralf Souquet and Feijen were just coming into their own.

Guided by Marcus Chamat, himself a veteran of six Mosconi Cups, Team Europe arrived in Vegas under new leadership. Gone was Austrian instructor/coach Johan Ruijsink, who had captained Team Europe to six wins and one tie in his seven stewardships. Chamat, a club owner and sometimes-player in Sweden who nearly earned enough ranking points to make the team, was well aware of Ruijsink's spotless record. But while Ruijsink took a very tactical approach to coaching Team Europe, Chamat relied on his passion and emotion to ready his charges.

"We're going to punch the clock when it's time to go to work," said Chamat beforehand. "But we want to have fun, too. And the players all know that I would go to war for them. I always played with a lot of heart, and I will coach the same way."

Meanwhile, Mosconi Cup XXII marked the second installment of the great Team USA Experiment, under the watchful eye of captain Mark Wilson. Wilson, who sank the title-clinching 9-ball in the inaugural Mosconi Cup in 1994, sent shockwaves through the American pool scene in 2014, when he totally revamped Team USA. Desperate to have Team USA become competitive once again, Matchroom allowed Wilson to hand select the 2014 squad. He chose to eschew the veteran players who had been the core of past teams in favor of a combination of youth and "character," as he put it. Wilson, who heads the billiard program at Lindenwood University near St. Louis, spent nearly 12 months shaping the 2014 team. And while the squad that travelled to Blackpool, England, was woefully overmatched in an 11-5 defeat, Wilson was successful in defining the expectations expected of those players who hoped to compete in future years.

"We announced and instituted core values," Wilson said. "And I think that shift helped us win over fans who had become dissatisfied with the direction of the team in previous years. Now our guys have another year of experience under this formula. They understand more about hard work. They understand the need to be 'All in, all the time,' which was our motto this year."

Wilson's hands were somewhat tied in 2015, as Matchroom instituted a points system for select events in the U.S., holding three of the five spots on Team USA for the top point-earners. After Van Boening, Deuel and Dechaine secured the points spots, Wilson opted for youth with his two "captain's choice" selections, picking Woodward and Bergman. The choices drew a modicum of criticism in the pool community, with many arguing that veteran players like Archer, Morris and Oscar Dominguez gave the U.S. a better chance.

"Justin and Sky were the next highest-ranked players on the points list," Wilson said. "They played great all year, and they supplied a spark that was incredible. American pool needs to develop young players, and their participation is going to draw that younger, hungry player. Their youth and large following also helped draw a lot of first-time fans to the Cup. And I guarantee those fans are Mosconi Cup fans for life now.

"Also, they led the way for us here," Wilson added. "It spurs them on to get better, but it should also spur some of the older players to elevate their games if they still want to be part of this."

A tireless coach with a penchant for military analogy, Wilson drove Team USA hard leading up to the Mosconi Cup. The team met in St. Louis for a full week before departing for Las Vegas. Much of that time was spent in Wilson's Lindenwood billiard facility, where the team worked on drills and doubles play. The team also participated in several off-site events, including an evening of matches inside St. Louis' Ballpark Village, an entertainment complex attached to the St. Louis Cardinals' baseball stadium. The event drew hundreds of fans, and sent the team on to Las Vegas with bolstered confidence and high hopes.

Still, while 2015 Team USA was clearly an improvement over previous years, favored Team Europe put its skill on display in Las Vegas, out-kicking and winning most safety battles with the young Americans. The general strategy at the Mosconi Cup is simple: Win each day. Team Europe did just that, posting 3-2 advantages on each of the first three days, and winning two of three on the final day to close out the event.

Trophy Time: (l-r) Appleton, Feijen, van den Berg, Boyes, Ouschan and Chamat celebrated another Team Europe triumph in Las Vegas.

DAY ONE
In front of a raucous crowd, with chants of "USA, USA," and "Europe" raining down on the arena, the teams paraded out for the opening match. As is customary, play begins with a team match, in which a player from each squad plays out a complete game.

As might have been expected, the opening match featured a bevy of botched shots, positional errors and missed opportunities. A Feijen miss with Europe leading, 3-2, allowed Deuel to knot the match, but Van Boening's scratch on the ensuing break led to a Boyes run-out. Appleton missed position with a chance to end the match, and Bergman ran out to force the decider. Holding form, Dechaine saw a missed 3 ball bank into the corner pocket, and his run-out gave Team USA the first point, 5-4.

The pool gods exacted their revenge on the Waterville, Me., hotshot when Dechaine missed the 7 ball in the deciding rack of Game 2. Team USA held a 4-3 lead and appeared poised to take a 2-0 overall lead when Dechaine and partner Deuel earned ball in hand. But shoddy position play by Deuel forced Dechaine to shoot the 7 with extreme English, and the shot missed badly. Boyes and van den Berg cleaned up the mess, then broke and ran the final rack for the victory.

Euro Tour champion Feijen then gave Europe a lead it would never relinquish by topping Bergman, 5-2, in the first singles match of the tournament. (In addition to the team match, the Mosconi Cup features seven doubles matches, in which each pairing must be different, and a maximum of 13 singles matches.)

Any concern over Woodward's ability to maintain composure and play solid pool were quickly answered when the Paducah, Ky., native teamed with Van Boening to roll past Appleton and Ouschan in doubles. Woodward often pulled his more accomplished partner back into line during several racks in a 5-1 demolition to tie the contest at 2-2.

"I said beforehand that I expected Skyler to play at an MVP level," said Wilson later. "And he more than validated his presence on the team in that first match. He's so loose."

With a chance to hold a lead after Day One, however, Team USA suffered a familiar fate. With a singles match slated to close the day, Wilson knew that Team Europe would send out Appleton. Wilson responded by playing Van Boening, despite a woeful Mosconi Cup record against the dogged Englishman. Sure enough, Appleton coasted to a 5-1 win to stake the Euros to a 3-2 lead after the opening day. While the two squads posted similar numbers for the day - misses, scratches on the break, kicks, safeties and position errors - Team USA missed seven shots classified as "easy," while Europe missed just one, according to pool statistician Pat Fleming of Accu-Stats. Many of those shots could have resulted in game wins.

"The unforced errors made the difference," noted Wilson. "We need to minimize those."

For Love of Country: (l-r) Woodward, Dechaine, Bergman, Van Boening, Deuel and Wilson showed plenty of heart.

DAY TWO
Team USA started strong on Day Two, trotting out its young guns, Woodward and Bergman, against one of the world's top doubles teams, Dutch countrymen Feijen and van den Berg. The Dutch duo has placed second in the World Cup of Pool twice and bring a calm confidence to the table. Unimpressed, Woodward and Bergman blazed their way through consecutive tough run-outs to turn a 3-3 tie into a 5-3 win for Team USA.

With a chance to secure its first lead on the second day or later in more than three years, Dechaine suffered through some miserable luck in his singles match against Ouschan. With the match tied at 3-3, Dechaine broke dry, resulting in an Ouschan run-out. In the next game, Dechaine played a marvelous safety, only to see one object ball bump another into the side pocket. After the resulting foul, Ouschan ran to the 8, but missed. Again, Dechaine was left with no shot, and a two-way attempt left the 9 positioned along the rail between the cue ball and the 8. Ouschan pocketed the 8 with a gutty jump shot and closed out the match, 5-3.

Former World Cup of Pool champs Appleton and Boyed staked Team Europe to a 5-3 overall lead by topping a shaky Deuel and Van Boening, 5-2, in a match that saw all four players rattle numerous shots. And when Boyes beat Woodward, 5-3, in a match that featured the obligatory Boyes dust-up, the Euros owned a 6-3 lead and threatened to pin the Yanks in a deep hole. (The entertaining Brit was called for a foul by referee Ken Shuman, after which Boyes showboated for the crowd while Shuman debated the call with the captains. Eventually, Shuman reversed his call and Boyes ran out.)

Day Two's final match teamed Van Boening and Dechaine against Appleton and van den Berg. The Euros reached the hill first, 4-3, in a well-played match. Dechaine pocketed several dazzling shots to tie the match, 4-4. Van Boening then brought the house down with a shot for the ages. Facing a table-length, jacked up 2-9 carom, Van Boening speared the shot to narrow the European margin to 6-4 and send the pro-USA crowd into delirium. "I wasn't giving up the table," said Van Boening later. "We needed momentum. I was going for the carom all the way. It came out great."

Despite pocketing just 137 balls on Day Two (compared to Europe's 213) and posting seven bad kicks and seven missed safeties (compared to one each by Team Europe), Team USA left the arena with its adrenaline running high and a glimmer of hope in its future.

Van Boening's (right) hill-hill carom brought teammate Dechaine (left) and the U.S. fans to their feet, and gave Team USA momentum heading into the third day.

DAY THREE
If Team USA lost any realistic hope of winning the 2015 Mosconi Cup, it likely happened on Day Three. With the final two doubles matches slated early in the Day Three schedule, singles play would determine the U.S.'s fate. Again, knowing that Team Europe was likely to stack its two best players, Feijen and Appleton, in the final two singles matches, Wilson had a choice to make. Would he dare match Van Boening and Appleton again? Or would he shuffle his lineup and try to steal a match?

Wilson wisely chose to trot Van Boening out against Feijen, and bravely pitted Bergman against Appleton.

Leading up to those matches, Team Europe grabbed the final two doubles matches, with Feijen and Ouschan manhandling Bergman and Deuel, 5-1, and Boyes and Ouschan doing the same to Dechaine and Woodward, 5-2. Sandwiched between those matches, Deuel got the best of van den Berg in the deciding rack to grab a 5-4 singles win.

Now trailing, 8-5, Team USA desperately needed Van Boening to show the form that has made him one of the top players in the world. After a slow start, the South Dakota phenom did just that. Trailing, 4-2, Van Boening pocketed a spectacular billiard on the 9, and ran out from the break to tie the match, 4-4. But Feijen, who had already fluked in a ball in an earlier rack, scored the tournament's lone "Golden Break," when an object ball kicked the 9 neatly into the side. The Dutch star sprinted to his corner seat, where his Euro teammates mobbed him. An incredulous Van Boening simply shook his head and unscrewed his cue.

The loss was made even more painful for the U.S. when Bergman used three break-and-runs en route to a shockingly convincing 5-2 beating of Appleton. So close to an 8-7 deficit, Team USA instead faced an uphill 9-6 battle heading into the final day.

"I was proud of my team," said Wilson. "We showed no quit in the face of adversity. Before the last match, Justin said, 'Don't worry, Mark. I've got this.' And he performed like a champion."

To their credit, Team USA's play was improving each day. After posting a dismal .788 Total Performance Average on Day Two, the Americans shot .863 on the third day. Only Team Europe's impressive .915 on Day Three prevented the U.S. squad from stealing one of those matches.

Feijen's case-game "Golden 9 Ball" was a punch in the gut for Van Boening and the U.S.

DAY FOUR
With Team USA needing to win five of six matches on the final day to capture the Cup, most observers expected Team Europe captain Chamat to hold his best players, Appleton and Feijen, for later if-needed matches. Knowing the Americans had no choice but to immediately send out their big guns, back-loading his line-up would keep pressure off the less-experienced Ouschan and van den Berg.

Instead, Chamat sent Feijen out first, followed by Boyes and Ouschan.

"We talked about the lineup on the final day," said Chamat. "Niels likes to come out early, and Darren didn't play particularly well, so he wanted to wait a bit. He prefers to play at the end of the day anyway.

"But the mindset of all the players was that everyone was going to play [on the final day]. They all came to work and punched the clock."

Team USA responded with the red-hot Bergman, Van Boening and Woodward.

The move nearly paid off for the U.S.

Bergman put on an almost flawless performance in the day's critical opening match against Feijen. The youngster from Southern Illinois used a pair of break-and-runs to forge a 4-3 lead. But Feijen, who already had three Mosconi Cup MVP awards on his mantel, tied the match with a sensational run-out that included a table-length bank shot, a jump shot and a long rail shot.

"That was a crazy run-out," Feijen said later. "I was just going on instinct there."

Still, Bergman had the upper hand in the case rack, and appeared well on his way to securing a key point for Team USA. But he missed proper shape from the 6 to the 7, leaving himself a severe angle for the 7 up the long rail, with the 8 and 9 near the bottom of the table. After pocketing the 7, the cue ball crossed the table off the opposite side rail and rolled directly behind the 9, completely blocking Bergman's view of the 8. The crowd gasped in disbelief. "I left myself too much angle on the 7, but I still thought I was okay," said the gutted Bergman. "I thought I hit it perfect and would be below the 9. Even after the cue ball came off the side rail and I knew it was going near the 9, I thought it was going to slide past. When it left me hooked, I felt sick."

Bergman's kick attempt scratched and Feijen escaped, pushing Europe to the hill, 10-6.

Team USA was able to stave off elimination when Van Boening authored a spirited comeback against Boyes in the next match. Trailing, 4-2, Van Boening broke and ran out to narrow the deficit, and pounced on Boyes' dry break in the ensuing game to tie the contest at 4-4. Hooked on the 1 ball in the case game, Van Boening added to his extensive highlight reel with a difficult jump shot in the middle of the table. He sprinted through the remainder of the rack to keep U.S. hopes alive.

Not surprisingly, with both teams scratching and clawing for every ball in what amounted to pool's version of trench warfare, the final match of the event produced the third consecutive 5-4 decision. Woodward and Ouschan battled through every game, both players making multiple trips to the table in most racks. At 3-3, both players broke and ran out to force a deciding game.

In the final game, Ouschan escaped a Woodward safety by banking off the end rail to pocket the 2 ball, which was nearly halfway up the side rail. He then played safe on the 3 ball. Having already used his extension, Woodward played a jump shot, sending the 3 to the top rail and down table, where the 8 was dangling near the corner pocket. Instead, the 3 danced around the 8 and came to rest in the open. Ouschan carefully picked his way through the remainder of the rack.

As is Mosconi Cup custom, the young player was mobbed by his teammates seemingly before the 9 disappeared into the corner pocket. The Euros hoisted their new hero onto their shoulders as the crowd cheered its appreciation for the effort displayed by both squads.

"Making the final ball is every player's dream," said the young Austrian. "When I got to the 8 ball, I could see Darren and Karl standing near the TV camera, waiting to run into the arena. On the last ball, I said, 'It's straight in. Just hit it. You don't have to play through the shot or anything. Just hit it.' It's an incredible feeling.

"The pressure out there is incredible," Ouschan continued. "I won the China Open, but it was nothing like this. Honestly, I wasn't ready to play today. I was hoping it would be over before it was my turn. There is so much pressure. Your hands are shaking all the time and you can't go through the shot. Your heart is speeding. It's a great feeling, but it makes it hard to play. You have to take your time and breath."

"When it comes to pool, the Mosconi Cup is something I have so much passion for," said winning captain Chamat. "I bet Albin and Skyler, for the rest of their lives, will have a passion to want to play in the Mosconi Cup again. It was the same that happened to me when I first played in 2000."

"There was a lot of drama this year," conceded Appleton. "More pressure. Ever match was a dogfight. The support on both sides was amazing. And it seems like the American fans are finally starting to understand the concept of getting behind the team.

"I think we just missed fewer critical balls and made some better decisions. But Mark [Wilson] has done a great job. You can build this team around Shane, Justin and Skyler."

As has been the case in recent years, the Cup was on in singles play, where Europe posted a 7-3 record. Bergman, Van Boening and Woodward combined for an .845 Total Performance Average on the final day, but even that was not good enough.

Hearn's (left) trophy handoff to Chamat (right) didn't escape the eye of the envious Wilson (center), who has the U.S. on the right course.

"Our players fought all the way through," said Wilson. "Shane rallied the troops with his dramatic shot on Day Two. Justin rallied the troops on Day Three with a .922 TPA against Darren. And today, Justin and Sky left everything on the table. I don't consider those losses. They just ran out of games." "It was an awesome experience," Woodward offered. "It was great to see that so many people love the game enough to come out and watch like this. And I love playing for a team and getting that support from the other players. You don't get that in regular tournaments. It's pretty cool when Shane is racking balls for you and setting up shots. He's such a great leader." "The Mosconi Cup means the world to me," added Bergman. "It's the best thing in pool by a mile. And I'd take this same team again anytime. We'd have a chance." By virtue of his three wins in singles and one doubles win, Feijen earned his fourth MVP award. Boyes also posted four wins, although three came in doubles play. Van Boening led the Americans with two doubles wins and a singles win. Woodward and Bergman chipped in with two wins each.

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