TEAM GERMANY (Ralf Souquet and Oliver Ortmann) played a near perfect game to crush their Russian opponents and advance to the quarter-finals of the PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool on Friday afternoon.
8-1 was the scoreline and the crowd at Robinsons Place, Manila were left in no doubt that Germany represent a major threat to win this tournament. It was perfect, clinical pool from the two World Champions and the Russian pair of Konstantin Stepanov and Ruslan Chinakhov had no answers.
In fact the Russians were staring at a shut-out defeat before they took the eighth rack to make their sole contribution to the scoreboard. Along with Taiwan, Germany look the team of the tournament to date and they will face a lack-lustre France who fell over the line against an awful England.
“It was almost perfect; I screwed up one position followed by Oliver missing a ball but they miscued so it came back straight to us,” said Souquet.
“I'm more satisfied than the first match but there's still room for improvement and I still haven't had my best game. I think we're working very well as everybody could see so nothing to complain about.
“Even though the Philippines A lost it's not getting any easier at all as there are still China, England and Indonesia, who beat Philippines A. I would've liked Philippines A to still be in as the crowd would've been more crazy and it was a chance for revenge for last year.
“But we don't care who we meet in the next round. Every opponent will be tough and whoever makes it to the quarter-finals is a good team.”
Ortmann added, “As long as we play this way we will beat anybody. In the Hong Kong match we were up 2-0 then trailing 2-4 but our confidence was pretty high and we never felt bad.
“For the match against Russia I expected to be more pressure from Russia but we played pretty good from the beginning so they didn't have a chance to come into the game.
The second match of the day was described by commentator Ted Lerner as ‘a tawdry affair, a sordid mess,' and there wouldn't be many people watching who would disagree with him.
France 8-6 England was the scoreline but it was a match that lasted for over two hours as neither side played with any sort of fluency. For Karl Boyes and Daryl Peach, it was a day to forget and possibly a low spot in their respective careers.
The recount the nuts and bolts of the match would be superfluous but the match was a litany of missed pots, unforced errors and sloppy positional play.
Both teams had plenty of chances but none were really taken and France can now look forward to meeting Germany in the quarter-finals. The contrast in their respective performances was so great that only a madman would bet against Germany.
With 32 teams representing 31 countries – home nation Philippines has two sides in the competition – the World Cup of Pool sees the gathering of some of the most decorated stars of the pool firmament. The event is taking place at Robinsons Place, in Ermita, Manila.
With a total purse of $250,000, the winning pair split $60,000 between them while first round losers are guaranteed $1,500 each. All the action will be carried live on Solar Sports in The Philippines and other broadcasters across the region.
Second Round Scores
Taiwan 8-2 Japan
Indonesia 8-6 Philippines A
Germany 8-1 Russia
France 8-6 England
First Round Scores
Russia 8–4 Canada
Indonesia 8-7 India
China 8–2 Belgium
Italy 8-6 Korea
Germany 8–4 Hong Kong
Philippines A 8-3 Thailand
England 8–7 Qatar
France 8-5 Australia
Japan 8–7 Slovenia
Poland 8-6 Malta
Taiwan 8–2 Malaysia
Philippines B 8-4 Croatia
Holland 8–3 Austria
Finland 8-2 Singapore
USA 8-7 Sweden
Spain 8-5 Vietnam
