World Cup report below:

 Norway were drawn in the same group as Czech Rep. Ireland & Denmark.

14 of us travelled to Nantes, France to compete in the ITSF World Cup 2009.

(Brendan, Tore, Ulli, Florian, Margrete, Jana, Helge, Odd Erik, Jo, Henrik, Erika, Svenn Erik, Kristin & Ewald).

In our first match we played against Denmark on Bonzini table where we didnt manage to win any games. The Danes are good on Bonzini but we got a lot of match experience from the match.

In the second match, team captain Brendan Martin won a game against the Czechs on RobertoSport table. The Czechs were also keen to win all their games and are good on RobertoSport but better on Bonzini so we can be glad we didnt also meet them on Bonzini table.

In the last match against Ireland, played on Tornado and RobertoSport, Ulli Mende won games in both singles and doubles. In the doubles match Ulli teamed up with Jana to comfortably win on RobertoSport.

Looking back, we should have won a few more games, sometimes just lacking better shots and some luck. However our main purpose was to get some top match experience against some of the worlds best players on all 5 official tables.

The World Cup was very well organised by the ITSF and many volunteers. The tournament venue was huge with over 100 ITSF tables well placed for all players to practice. In the central court area, the biggest ive ever seen, there were TV cameras and large screen beside the large grandstand where during top matches some 300-400 spectators were gathered.

Top moments of the World Cup:

1. Seeing Tony Spredeman play for real, not just youtube video. Some of the passes this guy can perform just shoudlnt be physically possible. Additionally, he seems to love playing foos which is great to see!

2. Getting to know so many cool players and playing against them in pick-up matches.

3. The doubles final was a classic 2-0 to a 2-2 comeback and nobody knowing who was gonna win... nice passing throughout the match from Englands Joe Hamilton gave them victory.

4. We got Foos legend Dave Gummesons World Cup shirt for our Foosball club!

5. We got Irish Foos legend Jude´s World Cup shirt for our Foosball club.

We have loads of cool photos to appear somewhere soon. Check the news here in the coming days.