2017 World Cup

[cueman]

Another victory for China then, three in row for them. :smile:

Nice comeback from 3-1 down in the final, thanks mostly to Ding Junhui, but unfortunately the quality of snooker wasn't particularly impressive.

The World Cup is a nice idea in theory, but in practice I think this format is a little underwhelming and could do with a few improvements.

I agree. I guess having so many teams and matches to play in the groups it needed to be a quickfire event but sadly this was to the detriment of the overall quality of play.

The format does need a rethink. I think the semi and final should have been over a longer format. Its still pretty much a lottery and in no way were China the best team of the tournament. England were the strongest overall and I think a longer best of 11 would have seen them crowned winners. The doubles should be scrapped for me, its not a format that is played at pro level and doesn't really allow players freedom to play properly.

[Csmith]

Instead of spending time getting tattoos, he should invest the time in a sports psychologist or a coach that he'll actually listen too. He's still young, but if things don't change he's going to go down as a guy with huge talent who wasted it by continually brain cramping. When playing doubles he seemed to think things through a bit more, but in singles he went for almost everything and his safety play was mostly atrocious. And his last shot of the match was left handed after about 3 seconds of thought.

I don't know why, but I really cheer for the guy and I really wish he would sometimes activate his brain before his cue. He got Belgium to the quarters purely on talent. That's how much ability he has, but if he married that ability with some tactical acumen he could be a truly elite player and challenge for multiple big titles.

Totally agree. He's a player who I root for the most. He has some Ronnie O'Sullivan qualities in the way he plays. He seems like a really nice lad too.

[Erwan_BZH]

Should do a Scottish double. That would be interesting to watch.

Fully agreed!!
We dot it in our Team championship here and it's quite fun and challenging

[Ethanat]

Should do a Scottish double. That would be interesting to watch.

[Odrl]

Another victory for China then, three in row for them. :smile:

Nice comeback from 3-1 down in the final, thanks mostly to Ding Junhui, but unfortunately the quality of snooker wasn't particularly impressive.

The World Cup is a nice idea in theory, but in practice I think this format is a little underwhelming and could do with a few improvements.

[Stony152]

Jeeez Luca is getting more and more tattoos each year. I love tattoos as well but he's reached a point where he looks more like a mexican drug that just got out of jail dealer than anything else lol

Instead of spending time getting tattoos, he should invest the time in a sports psychologist or a coach that he'll actually listen too. He's still young, but if things don't change he's going to go down as a guy with huge talent who wasted it by continually brain cramping. When playing doubles he seemed to think things through a bit more, but in singles he went for almost everything and his safety play was mostly atrocious. And his last shot of the match was left handed after about 3 seconds of thought.

I don't know why, but I really cheer for the guy and I really wish he would sometimes activate his brain before his cue. He got Belgium to the quarters purely on talent. That's how much ability he has, but if he married that ability with some tactical acumen he could be a truly elite player and challenge for multiple big titles.

[Erwan_BZH]

Jeeez Luca is getting more and more tattoos each year. I love tattoos as well but he's reached a point where he looks more like a mexican drug that just got out of jail dealer than anything else lol

[Ethanat]

Wow just watched Iran vs Thailand, griping stuff in the first frame.
https://youtu.be/qnQdcUc2VQI

[Stony152]

Looks like not many of you are watching the World Cup. I'm actually enjoying it quite a bit and today has been fascinating with all of the possibilities as playoff spots were decided. Ding made a great clearance against Fu in the decider after Fu missed a difficult black close to getting over the line.

The most interesting group going into today was group B with Belgium on 15 points (frames), China A on 14 and Hong Kong on 13. China played Hong Kong while Belgium played an underachieving Ireland. The tiebreaker was H2H result and Belgium had already beaten both of the other two contenders in previous matches. I had to laugh at Phil Yates and especially Mike Hallett who finally just gave up trying to understand the possible combinations. As a former Math teacher I shudder at how poor most of the population is with numbers and stats.

They had 24 hours to prepare for the telecast and yet they failed miserably throughout in terms of grasping what each team's chances really were. At one point Hallett said that Belgium needed to win to be sure of advancing. Later he said that winning two frames would probably be enough, before finally (after two hours) deciding that they could scrape through with only one win in five frames against Ireland.

At the beginning of the telecast they made it seem like all three teams had relatively equal chances of advancing. The reality was that Belgium had about a 99% chance of going through. Of the 36 possible combinations of results only ONE eliminated them. If they lost 0-5 and Hong Kong beat China exactly 3-2. That would have resulted in 16 points for both Hong Kong and China and 15 for Belgium. The fact was Belgium had the tiebreaker against both other teams was huge. The other thing they should have mentioned at the very beginning that they never did was that ANY China win automatically qualified both China and Belgium even if Belgium lost 5-0 to Ireland. That would have at worst (Hong Kong winning two frames) left Belgium tied with Hong Kong for second place with Belgium having the tiebreaker.

I was really hoping that Belgium would lose all five matches and still advance. That would have completely confused Hallett and blown his mind. The other thing I was hoping for was a three way tie, because it was never fully explained what would happen. There was mention of a blue ball shoot out if more than two teams were tied, but I wonder if it was only for the case of a three way tie where the teams were all 1-1 within their group of three H2H matchups. In this case Belgium would have been 2-0, while the other two teams would have been 1-1 and 0-2. I assume that in such a case the 2-0 and 1-1 teams would go through.

They kept saying it was so tense and exciting, but the problem is they really never completely new what combination of results would cause what and they were trying to figure it out on the fly. Real professional announcers what have done their homework before hand and would have known exactly what was going on. Or is that expecting too much Math from a couple of simpletons?

[jimev]

So Hong Kong lol. Thanks for the detail.

7.2 though...

[DeanH]

Not been watching but kept half an eye on results. Surprised to see Ding & Wenbo losing to belgium but i suppose it's a quirk of the (very) short format. Who's the guy with brecel?

This is all WS has on him: [http://www.worldsnooker.com/2017-world-cup-teams/]
Jeff Jacobs
Age: 21
World ranking: unranked
Career highlights: Jacobs is lining up for Belgium in the World Cup for the first time. Last year he reached the last 32 of the World Amateur Championship.

Out of interest, what happens if hong kong beat china 3-2 tomorrow? they'll be level on points in second place by my calculations

5. One point will be awarded for each frame won.
6. The number of frames won will determine the group positions.
7. In determining the top two positions in each group, should there be an equal number of
frames won by two or more teams, then the following criteria will determine the final position
of each team in each group:
7.1. If two teams are equal, the winner of the match between the two teams who are equal
7.2. If two or more teams are tied a sudden death blue ball shoot out will be played between
the teams who are equal. The blue ball will be placed on its spot and the cue-ball must be
struck from within the D. The teams will toss a coin to determine who will go first. Each player
in each team will take turns to pot the blue from its spot.

[jimev]

Not been watching but kept half an eye on results. Surprised to see Ding & Wenbo losing to belgium but i suppose it's a quirk of the (very) short format. Who's the guy with brecel?

Out of interest, what happens if hong kong beat china 3-2 tomorrow? they'll be level on points in second place by my calculations

[DeanH]

pure invitation, supposedly the top two seeds from either incited country, or A N Other that can make it

[Ethanat]

Were there qualifying rounds before the main event? Or is it purely by invitation?

[SnookerFan]

Never really get into snooker as a team game, personally. Just not my thing.