PBR World Cup hasn’t gone as planned for Americans

By Case Keefer (contact)

Sunday, April 18, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.

Ryan McConnel could no longer hide his frustration after his final ride of the night Saturday at the Professional Bull Riders World Cup.

A bull named White Magic tossed McConnel, one of the top riders on the United States team, off in three seconds, which is five seconds short of the requirement to receive a score for an official ride.

McConnel walked off of the floor at the Thomas & Mack Center with his head planted firmly down. It was the last ride of the fourth round for the Americans, who find themselves in second place at the World Cup but way behind Team Brazil.

“I sure didn’t expect it to turn out like this this far in,” said J.W. Hart, United States team captain. “I’ve talked to the guys and they’re down.”

Brazil leads the competition between the top five countries in bull riding with 888.75 points through four rounds. The final two rounds will be contested at 11:30 a.m. Sunday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

With a score of 523.75, the United States is four successful rides behind Brazil. The Brazilians only have to record three official rides out of their scheduled 10 remaining to clinch a victory on Sunday.

Adriano Moraes, captain of Team Brazil, doesn’t want to hear it.

“I just know it’s close enough that we can lose,” Moraes said. “That’s all I need to know, and that’s all my team needs to know.”

Brazil has stolen the show during the first two nights of competition. Guilherme Marchi, Robson Palermo and Renato Nunes each wooed the packed crowd Saturday by successfully completing both of their rides.

Austin Meier, currently ranked as the No. 1 bull rider in the world, was the only American to complete both of his rides. But Meier’s combined score didn’t add up to more than any of the Brazilians who excelled on both rides.

“Brazil, my hat is off to those guys,” Hart said. "Those are some riding s.o.b's There’s nothing fake about those five guys.”

For the second night in a row, only 14 of the scheduled 50 rides lasted the minimum eight seconds.

Everyone involved in the PBR is in awe of the bulls on display in Las Vegas.

“It’s a different ballgame here,” said Cody Snyder, captain of Team Canada. “This is the rankest pit of bulls you’re ever going to see.”

Canada enters the final day in last place and will be without the services of its top rider, Aaron Roy.

Roy took a blow to the face from the horns of a bull named Chick’N Fried and possibly fractured his cheekbone. Another injury occurred when Ben Jones of Team Australia, currently in third, received a head shot and suffered a concussion from a bull named Sure Shot.

The United States team had no injuries, but that was about the only positive from their night. It looks like the Americans' two-year run as World Cup champions is coming to a close.

“We’re going to have to get a little bit lucky tomorrow,” Hart said. “That’s the only way we can come out on top.”