And then there were TWO! The 2009 Bermuda Bowl will see USA vs. Italy in the finals once again. The greatest World Championship finals over the last 50 years have involved teams from USA and Italy and this will not be an exception.
Both USA II and Italy had relatively easy matches in the Semifinals where both opponents withdrew with one segment (16 boards) to go. Italy beating Bulgaria by 105 imps and USA II topping China by 101 imps. China and Bulgaria will playoff for the Bronze medal in a 48 board match today.
The team celebrated their victory over China with the – you guessed it – dinner buffet in the hotel but we still managed to fit in three episodes of “2 1/2 Men”. Coach Kokish (Kokes) and Eric Rodwell looked over the match between Italy and Bulgaria to see if they could gleem any insight as to how the Italians think about the game. I don’t know if any great mysteries were solved by this mental exercise but they eventually succumbed to laughing along with the rest of us at 2 1/2 Men!
As you may recall, USA II won the Round Robin Match against Italy by 22 imps. However, since Italy finished higher than USA II in the Round Robin, USA II gets only 1/3 of the imps which is 8.33 carry over. But hey – against this Italian team we will take all the points we can get including the .33!
The Final has 8 segments (instead of 6) and will be played over the next three days – three segments a day Thursday and Friday with the final two segments to be played on Saturday. Times are the same – 9am, 12:30pm and 3:20 pm (Dallas time). All segments will be shown on BBO so grab your laptop, make room on your couch and have plenty of snacks and drinks to munch on while you cheer USA II to victory!
Other USA Results
In the Venice Cup: USA II withdrew with two segments to go against USA I. USA I will face China in the finals for the gold while USA II will play France in the bronze medal playoff.
In the Senior Bowl: USA II lost to Poland in their Semifinal matchand will face Indonesia for the bronze today. England plays Poland for the gold. If memory serves me (which after two weeks in Sao Paulo may be a little faulty) this will be the first Senior Bowl without a USA team competiting for the gold. Wow!
