Mosconi Cup Team Europe
Lely To Captain Team Europe Alex Lely has been appointed as the new captain of Team Europe at the partypoker Mosconi Cup, with Karl Boyes as his vice-captain. Europe will be looking to regain the Cup at Alexandra Palace, London this December 1st-4th after suffering back-to-back defeats against USA.
D
utchman Lely returns to the helm having been European captain in 2008 and 2009. In his first Cup as captain he led Europe to an 11-5 victory in Malta before losing 11-7 to USA the following year.
“It is very exciting,” said Lely of his appointment. “It has been ten years since I was last the captain and that is a long time in the context of the Mosconi Cup. It has grown to be so big in that time and it is getting better every year. With USA winning it the last two years, the Mosconi Cup has sparks once again.
Alex Lely and Karl Boyes
44 | Billiards Buzz • February 2020
“We have a big pool of talent in Europe. We have two wildcards so together with Karl Boyes we will need to make the right choices to compliment the three players who qualify through the rankings. There will be a list of usual suspects and new contenders we have to consider. One new contender to consider would have to be Fedor Gorst, who came really close to making the team last year and is now World Champion. “We need to get our act together. It is not just about making the balls, it is about acting as a team and it will be
very important for the team to gel. Communication will be very important between the coaches and the players, and amongst players themselves. Playing at home, we want to bring it home. “The past ten years, I have been coaching a lot, working with top players, and commentating a lot. So I have been very close to the Mosconi Cup and elite pool and I have learned a lot. I think ten years ago I was pretty green, a bit of a rookie. I wasn’t as experienced as a coach as I am now.
