WCOP 2009 - USA Break Off In Manila Spectacle

Matchroom Sport Press Release:

RODNEY Morris is confident Team America can successfully defend their World Cup of Pool title this week.

Morris and team-mate Shane Van Boening triumphed in 2008 and will be reunited in Manila, Philippines for this year's competition, which will be sponsored by PartyCasino.net and staged at the SM North City Mall EDSA.

However, Morris believes the strongest threat will come from the two host sides, the Philippines A pairing of Ronnie Alcano and Dennis Orcollo and the Philippines B duo of Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante.

"Home advantage will be massive for both of them," said Morris. "Everytime you make a mistake you have to be prepared that the crowd will be cheering but we're prepared for that.

"Reyes and Bustamante is the toughest of the two Filipino teams because they have already won the competition before (in 2006) and showed they can do it in this format. They could both be 100 years old and would still be the toughest opponents.

"But anyone can win it and Germany and Holland also look good. You just have to deal with whoever you play and treat them as the toughest match."

America begin their defence of the trophy on Tuesday evening with a match against the Maltese pairing of Tony Drago and Alex Borg.

The two nations met in 2007 and USA scraped an 8-7 victory after a thrilling encounter and Morris is expecting another tough clash.

"Tony is a very dangerous player so we will have to concentrate fully," added Morris. "It's only a short race to eight so it's about a matter of getting yourself prepared mentally.

"Shane and I were the first US team to win the competition and it's a big deal - a world title. It showed we can still perform at that level and get the job done, especially in the first year I was in the US team that finished second.

"If we win it this year, in the Philippines, then it would be unbelievable but we're really confident and I'm definitely playing better than I was last year.

"Shane is a fearless machine and has ice in his veins so we don't have anything to worry about."

Reyes and Bustamante will also be in action on the opening day against outsiders Qatar, while China, who won the World Cup in 2007, meet Korea.

The other matches see France play Canada, Australia enterain Spain and Indonesia meet India.

For more information, visit MatchroomPool.com