Americans fight back but have it all to do - 13/11/2010

THE SATURDAY night session, played out in front of a full house at the Barnsley Metrodome, ended all square as Team USA finally showed what they are capable of as Jones, Barnes and Weber scored great wins to keep the American dream alive.

The session leaves them four points adrift, and with a potential 15 matches left to play, they will sleep a little sounder tonight.

As the session opened, Team USA recorded two wins on the trot for the first time in the competition as they took the opening Baker match by a 31 pin margin. That took the score to 9-4 and would have acted as a real morale booster for the hapless Americans.

The Americans lead from the start and other than an open frame when the match was already won, a nine spare was their worst effort in the 214-183 win.
That US momentum didn’t last long as Osku Palermaa took out Tim Mack in the clash of the captains. That put Europe into double figures and restored their six point lead.

In fact, Palermaa’s 279 was the highest score of the tournament thus far and was a whopping 95 pins ahead of Mack’s effort. The American skipper has not been at his best this week and was feeling the heat as his team fell further behind.

For Palermaa though, everything was coming up roses, “There were two Brooklyns and two other bad shots but I’ll take them. Everyone has been bowling well and the Americans have been bowling worse but it’s not over yet.”

With the next two players up being decided by the opposing captain, it was no surprise that Palermaa put Mack straight back in. Mack opted for Koivuniemi but by his own admission, all four Europeans were playing well.

The Finn was consistent through the game as Mack made too many errors to keep in contention. He finished strongly with five strikes but it only reduced the deficit as Koivuniemi romped home to put Europe into an 11-4 lead.

Tommy Jones showed his team the way to go in the fourth match of the session as he dug deep into his reserves to pip Osku Palermaa at the post and keep him team in it. Jones had trailed throughout – 43 pins after the fifth and 10 pins after the seventh – but he ended with three strikes leaving Palermaa to finish strike, strike for the win.

He failed though, leaving a split and the match went to Jones and the deficit went down to six points.

Sensing that it was a now-or-never situation, Chris Barnes fired up his team mates and the smattering of US fans in the crowd with a superb performance that matched Palermaa’s earlier effort as the best score of the weekend.

Barnes looked on for a 300 game but fell down with a 9 spare in the ninth frame but by that stage he was streets ahead of Barrett, who himself put in a decent enough score of 238.

With the momentum flowing in the Americans’ favour, Pete Weber stepped up to the plate and closed the day out with a great 255 – 196 victory over Paul Moor to leave the session all tied and Team USA trailing 11-7 going into Sunday.

Having lost the first three matches of the session to trail 11-4 it looked like a potential early finish on Sunday, but America came back well and will go to sleep tonight believing they have given themselves half a chance.

Featuring a potential total of 33 matches over the weekend, the first team to reach 17 points will lift the coveted Weber Cup. Starting in 2000, the USA has won six Weber Cups and the Europeans four, although the Europeans are defending champions following a 17-11 win last year.