York Hall, Bethnal Green

EUROPE 9 - 12 USA

The United States have retained the 2000 Acclaim Mosconi Cup despite a brave last stand by the European side here the York Hall, Bethnal Green. USA Captain Earl ‘the Pearl’ Strickland had the honour of sinking the winning 9-ball in the final match against Thomas Engert as well as hoisting the magnificent trophy.

With the scores standing at 10 – 8 in favour of the Americans at the start of the evening’s play, the Europeans had so little to play with as skipper Ralf Souquet strode out into the 700-strong arena to face Shannon ‘ the Cannon ‘ Daulton. The bookies had the Kaiser a big favourite and the point was absolutely crucial to the Europeans.

As is so often the case in 9-ball, the underdog Daulton did not put a foot wrong as he broke and run out and then took advantage of Souquet’s only error to seal the match.

That left the Americans within sniffing distance of the finishing post but there was plenty more drama to come as five foot nothing Swede Marcus Chamat drank in the York Hall atmosphere to carry off a brilliant victory over Jeremy Jones to put the match at 11- 9. The momentum went back and forth between the two but Chamat’s control over the match was never in doubt as he took Jones’ break and held his own as the crowd went absolutely bananas.

In the end, though, it was Earl the Pearl who pulled the final trigger and it was a fitting end to a great year that has seen Strickland win the US Open for a record breaking fifth time as well as slew of other tournaments to cement his position as pool’s player of the year.

Commented Strickland immediately after the presentation, " This was a great team I had and every man played his part. They all did what I told them to do and it was an honour captaining them. The Europeans got their closest yet and I’m sure they will give us an even harder fight in 2001. I didn’t think that being captain would be such hard work and I’m not sure that I want to do it again next year. I spent hours on the practice table with my players and it was a great effort on all our parts that won us the Mosconi Cup."

The title sponsor of the 2000 Mosconi Cup are Acclaim Entertainments, the official table supplier is Brunswick, the official cloth supplier is Simonis and the Mosconi Cup balls are supplied by Saluc.

2001 Admiral World Pool Championship Results