2012 Mosconi Cup: The Teams

The 2012 Mosconi Cup starts on Monday for its 18th tournament. Team Europe retained the title in Las Vegas last year and will be determined to match or better their 11-7 result in Bethnal Green this year. Here's how the two line up:

Team Europe

The defending champions are without the veteran Ralf Souquet and the 'Iceman' Mika Immonen who have the most appearances in the Mosconi Cup. Immonen was famously left out in last year's team also, so there has actually only been one change to last year's team.

Darren Appleton returns for his fourth tournament. The two time winner of the Mosconi Cup was awarded the MVP in 2010 and has a 50% win percentage from his 14 matches overall. This year, Appleton took the World Nine-Ball crown. Fellow Englishman, Chris Melling returns after a successful debut last year. He won three of his five matches in Las Vegas and will be hoping to match that this time around.

The Dutch duo of Nick Van Den Berg and Neils Feijen were the other members of last year's winning side. This will be Van Den Berg's sixth appearance but he has the lowest win percentage of just 36%, nine wins from 25-matches. But he is currently ranked as Europe's number two, behind Appleton, so he isn't going to be much of a weak link. Feijen is the most experienced in the team as this will be his eighth Mosconi Cup, levelling with Germany's Oliver Ortmann in fourth place in the overall appearance chart. Feijen has won 19 of his 32 matches which gives him a win percentage of 59, he also comes into the tournament as the winner of the China Invitational.

The man to fill Souquet's shoes is debutante Nick Ekonomopoulos from Greece. He won the Austrian Euro Tour but that may not be enough to stop the Americans thinking he could be the weak link in the European team. But most said that about Melling last year and coped extremely well under the pressure.

Team USA

USA make two changes from last year's side, which includes Rodney Morris not getting a slot. Jonny Archer will become the sole player to have the most Mosconi Cup appearances with 16, Souquet was level with him on 15. The Scorpion has won nine titles with a win percentage of 53, 39 wins from 74.

Mike Dechaine returns after a less than impressive Mosconi Cup debut last year. Dechaine only won one of his four matches in Las Vegas and will looking to improve on that this year if USA are going to win the title. Shane Van Boening is the other returning player and he makes his sixth appearance. Van Boening has won 12 of his 26 matches in Mosconi Cup history but comes into this year's event at the US Open champion.

Dennis Hatch missed out on a place last year but returns this time around for his third appearance. He won the title in 2009 and has a fantastic record of seven wins in ten games, making him the dark horse for Team USA. Their final player comes in the shape of debutante Brandon Shuff. From Richmond, Virginia, Shuff brings a few American championships to the table and could be quite a controversial character as he says he dislikes how much luck there is in pool with too many professionals that aren't truly tested.