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D Day has arrived. Tonight at the Hotel Zuiderduin, Egmond aan Zee, Holland the two six man teams representing the United States of America and Europe will enter the packed arena to contest the 12th annual Mosconi Cup.
Played out over four days, it features a series of singles and scotch doubles matches with the first team to reach 12 points lifting pool's most prestigious trophy.
Team captains Johnny Archer and Oliver Ortmann are the men responsible for who plays and when and tonight's order of play for the three doubles matches is:
Niels Feijen & Steve Davis v Charlie Williams & Tony Robles
Oliver Ortmann & Thomas Engert v Johnny Archer & Gabe Owen
Mika Immonen & Marcus Chamat v Earl Strickland & Rodney Morris
With the doubles pairings critical, both captains explained the reasoning behind their decisions; “Earl and Rodney have both got that loose kind of style and I believe that they will mix well, said Archer.
“I think Gabe Owen needed to go out with one of the older more experienced players to settle him down early and Tony Robles and Charlie Williams are real good friends and have a similar style. If it doesn't work we'll change it but we're all really excited!”
For Ortmann the pairings more or less picked themselves. “Myself and Thomas Engert know each very well; we've been playing together since we were juniors so that was the first decision, he said.
“Mika and Marcus have been friends for a long time so that was an easy choice. Steve Davis and Niels Feijen felt comfortable together on the practice table and we've put them out first because Niels can't wait to get out there and it will be good for the Dutch crowd.”
Let battle commence!
