The wheels are falling off the wagon for Team USA at day one of the 2012 Partypoker.net Mosconi Cup.
After a Team Europe win in match one, Team USA's Rodney Morris & Earl Strickland watched a 2-0 lead disappear at the hands of Darren Appleton & Karl Boyes. Appleton & Boyes won six of the next seven games, including a 9-ball break by Appleton in rack 4 and Team Europe held a 2-0 match lead.
Match three saw Mika Immonen trail the entire match to Shane Van Boening, until the final game when Immonen made a 9-ball break to steal the match 6-5 and give Team Europe a 3-0 lead. Van Boening had multiple chances to finish out the match, but was unable to close the door on Mika.
Archer & Hatch hoped to stop the bleeding for Team USA in match four against Ralf Souquet & Niels Feijen, but it wasn't meant to be. The American duo kept it close at 1-1 and 2-2, but scratches by Archer in racks five and six gave Team Europe an insurmountable lead and they cruised to a 6-2 win and a 4-0 match lead.
Team USA will leave their hopes on the cue of Rodney Morris as he closes day one for Team USA in a match against Darren Appleton.
