The 15th edition of the Mosconi Cup is only days away now and enthusiasm is running high with both teams keen to better the current scoreline which stands at 10½ wins for the USA and 3½ wins for Europe – the 2006 edition ended in 12-12 draw.
The 2008 PartyPoker.com Mosconi Cup will be staged at the Hilton Conference Centre in Portomaso between the 11 and 14 of December, an event which features two five-man teams playing a series of singles and doubles matches over four days.
The USA Team for the Malta appointment will be made up of World Cup of Pool winning duo Rodney Morris and Shane van Boening, Earl Strickland, Jeremy Jones together with American number one Johnny Archer.
Mika Immonen (Finland), Neils Feijen (Holland), Ralf Souquet (Germany), Mark Gray (England) and Tony Drago (Malta) make up what looks to be one of the strongest European teams contesting the Mosconi Cup in recent years.
The latest news on this exciting engagement concerns the two players who will lead the teams at the Portomaso challenge. Dutchman Alex Lely has been appointed the captain of the European team while Nick Varner will be the captain of the American team. Possibly the Mosconi Cup is the only pool event where the role of a team’s captain is a non-playing one.
Since the early days of the event each team had a captain but it was always one of the players. As the event grew bigger and there was increased pressure, non-playing captains were introduced for the first time in Las Vegas in 2003.
Varner, 60, who has participated in four editions of Mosconi Cup, carries an eight wins from 19 matches record. “I am very excited and looking forward to regaining the trophy,” said Varner.
Lely, 34, has been in the Europe team twice but has never won the Cup yet – Maybe Malta will be third time lucky. “This means a lot to me as I now have the chance to win the Mosconi Cup which I never did as a player,” remarked Lely.
Most interesting, the Malta appointment will be the 13th edition for both Earl Strickland (USA) and German Ralf Souquet (Europe) who enjoy the best number of representations from amongst the 61 players that participated in the Mosconi Cup over the past 14 years.
Online ticket booking on the official website of The Mosconi Cup, www.maltacup.org/mosconi is still available where bookings done from overseas enthusiasts mainly hailing from England, Germany, Bulgaria and even the USA is described as “most encouraging”. This online service is available to both Maltese and overseas pool fans who will be able to book the best seats
The main sponsors of the Mosconi Cup are PartyCasino.com whilst the travel partner of the event, Allevents Malta, which forms part of the UK based Fraser Eagle Group, are offering various packages including flights, accommodation, transfers and tickets to encourage overseas visitors to attend the event.
Matchroom Sport are the promoters of The Mosconi Cup while Snooker Promotions have been entrusted with the local organisation of the event.