ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands--The final competition in the League of Nations will be held on Rotterdam on June 21, and it will decide which eight nations will compete in the Final in Barcelona this fall.
McLain Ward on Ilex last winter at WEF (Photo by Sportfot)The U.S. stands fourth of the 10 teams competing for a spot in the Final with 135 points, and Laura Kraut, Callie Schott, Jessie Springsteen and McLain Ward will represent the U.S. in Rotterdam.
Ireland leads with 190 points, followed by Germany, 160, Switzerland,150 points, U.S., 135, Brazil, 125, Sweden,120, Netherlands, 115, and Belgium, France and Great Britain with 85 points each, so for those three teams the pressure will be immense.
Belgium, France and Great Britain will need to finish near the top in Rotterdam if they are to make the cut into the top eight nations that will qualify for the inaugural Final of the brand new series at the Real Club de Polo in Barcelona, Spain on Oct. 6.
After the first two legs, in Abu Dhabi, UAE in February and Ocala in March, with two legs still left to run, there was no great cause for alarm for the sides at the bottom of the League table.
But the cancellation of round three in St Gallen, Switzerland two weeks ago due to adverse weather conditions has changed all that.
THE BELGIANS, French and British really need to step it up this time out, and even The Netherlands can’t afford to be complacent.
The teams for Rotterdam have been named.
Henk Nooren’s French team looks really strong with Simon Delestre, Julien Epaillard, Olivier Perreau and Kevin Staut.
And the British have a strong team, with Harry Charles, Tim Gredley and Joseph Stockdale along with reigning Olympic champion Ben Maher.
The third of the vulnerable teams at the bottom of the table, Belgium, also looks rock solid with Pieter Devos, Abdel Saïd and Gilles Thomas joined by Koen Vereecke.
After their back-to-back hat-trick of home wins the Dutch crowd will be expecting big things from their foursome, Kim Emmen, Willem Greve, Harrie Smolders and Maikel van der Vleuten.
Just five points separate the Dutch from Team Sweden in sixth place, but Sweden's team manager Henrik Ankarcrona has selected three of the team that won Olympic gold in Tokyo three years ago - longtime world number one Henrik von Eckermann, Peder Fredricson and Malin Baryard-Johnsson - along with five-time Olympian Rolf-Göran Bengtsson, and they look very formidable indeed.
The Brazilian team consists of Stephan de Freitas Barcha, Luciana Diniz, Rodrigo Pessoa and Pedro Veniss, and with 125 points Brazil is fifth, just 10 points behind fourth placed Team USA which will be represented by veteran multi-medallists Laura Kraut and McLain Ward along with Jessica Springsteen and Callie Schott.
Lying third, Switzerland has 150 points, and the team includes Romain Duguet, Edouard Schmitz, Pius Schwizer and Janika Sprunger.
Otto Becker’s German team includes Marcus Ehning, Christian Kukuk, Richard Vogel and Philipp Weishaupt.
Irish Chef d’Equipe, Michael Blake, is sending a crack side that includes Daniel Coyle, Cian O’Connor, Shane Sweetnam and Mark McAuley.
Here are some statistics from the two legs of the series so far:
A total of 80 have started, jumping 124 rounds with four eliminated and two opting to retire.
A total of 1,801 fences have been jumped and there have been 19 single clear rounds and 10 double-clear rounds while just seven refusals have been recorded - one at a vertical fence, two at an oxer and four at the open water obstacle.
The teams for the fourth leg of the League of Nations will parade in the Rotterdam arena at 15.30 on Friday.June 21, and the competition begins at 16.00 local time, 10 a.m. Eastern.
With qualification for the Final hanging in the balance it will be crunch time for the top 10 nations.
