Although it looked in doubt and has been heavily delayed due to Covid-19, the World Cup of Darts finally gets underway on Friday at a changed venue and with nations involved who weren’t originally expected to be due to the pandemic.
Scotland won the tournament last year and they have a pairing ready to defend their title but it is not the same duo who picked up the trophy which will keep most of the other nations involved interested this week.
Recent Winners
2019 – Scotland
2018 – Netherlands
2017 – Netherlands
2016 – England
2015 – England
2014 – Netherlands
2013 – England
2012 – England
2011 – Netherlands
The Format
Sadly the ridiculous format of this tournament hasn’t changed. That means the opening round is still the best of nine legs in a pairs format. The second round, quarter finals and semi-finals are all the best of three rubbers. The first two of them are singles over the best of seven legs and if the tie goes 1-1 it will be settled on a best of seven doubles. The final will be contested over five rubbers. The first four are best of seven singles and if it goes 2-2 the fifth match will be a best of seven doubles.
Top Half
England might not be the reigning champions but they are the number one seeds with Michael Smith and Rob Cross representing them and they start out as 4/1 third favourites to win the tournament. There are three other seeded nations in the top half of the draw. They are the home nation Austria who have Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez playing for them, Northern Ireland who will be represented by Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan, and Belgium who have the World Matchplay champion Dimitri Van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts representing them.
There are some appealing nations among those who are not seeded in this top half of the draw as well. Canada have a good pedigree in world darts at Jeff Smith will look to lead them deep in the event while Jose de Sousa will spearhead a Portugal attack on the event. Czech Republic and Hong Kong could be rated as dark horses for deep runs over the course of the weekend.
Bottom Half
The tournament favourites Wales are the highest seeds in the bottom half of the draw with Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton looking to propel the number two seeds to their first World Cup crown. Four time winners Netherlands will be the team most likely to stop them if the seeds are anything to go by. Michael van Gerwen and Danny Noppert will battle for them. The other two seeded nations are Germany and Republic of Ireland, the team beaten by Scotland in the final last time out.
Defending champions Scotland will be looking to retain their title from this spot in the draw. It is Robert Thornton and John Henderson who will represent them rather than Gary Anderson and Peter Wright though. Japan, Australia, Poland and South Africa all have appealing leading players and in the case of Australia a pretty decent second player as well and none of them should be ruled out too soon.
Special Offer
Opt in and place 5 accumulators either in a Boylesports shop or online and get an acca free! Click the image below to bet. ALL CUSTOMERS! 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Outright Betting
The bottom half of the draw is more of a minefield than the top one but this whole draw has the potential to open right up so I’m not swayed from having my main bet in the bottom half. It comes in the form of Germany, a side who should really have done better than they have historically. They have never gone past the quarter final of this event, continually running into England or the Netherlands when they get there and they could face the Dutch in the last eight here too but this time MVG doesn’t look as fearsome and Noppert will be making his debut so the Netherlands don’t look as strong. Max Hopp and Gabriel Clemens are both class acts and actually when you look down the list of second players, Clemens is the fourth best in rankings but he isn’t far behind Jonny Clayton and Danny Noppert. I always feel you are only as strong as your second player in this so Germany should go very well.
I can’t resist a punt in the top half of the draw because if anything happens to England, and with the way Michael Smith and Rob Cross are playing at the minute, especially when it comes to missing doubles, it very well could, the half will be blown wide open. Seeds with you’ll be left with Austria who have Rodriguez not going too well, Northern Ireland for whom Daryl Gurney looks in awful form and Belgium who have an injured Van den Bergh and a hit or miss Huybrechts. With that in mind, I’m prepared to take a chance on Hong Kong. They have Kai Fan Leung and Royden Lam in their side for this tournament. Leung has been on the tour this year and competing pretty well while Lam has been a regular on the PDC circuit in recent times and has stacks of stage experience. Clearly at a three figure price they are a long shot but they should overcome Latvia in the opening round and the draw could very well open up from there.
Quarter Betting
I’ll also take a punt on the third quarter where Wales look good things on paper but I’m not sure they have as much of a margin over Australia in this format as the odds suggest. I do think this will be the quarter final in this section even though it is the Republic of Ireland who are the second seeds rather than Australia. That is only because the Australia number two, Damon Heta, only gained his tour card this season. He has already won a tour event this season so you could easily suggest he is better than both the Irish pair even allowing for the fact that they made the final of this last year.
Poland, South Africa, Japan and Scotland are strong darting nations who all have good main players but either unknown or out of form second players which could be their undoing. Remember in no tie in this event does the second player not play so you have to be strong in that department. It wasn’t long ago that Simon Whitlock was in the World Grand Prix semi-final and his partner Heta won one of the World Series events last year and a Players Championship event this year. They look a lot more competitive than 11/2 shots in a quarter that looks a two horse race.
Tips
Back Germany to win World Cup of Darts (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 15.00 with BetVictor (1/2 1-2)
Back them here:
Back Australia to win 3rd Quarter for a 2/10 stake at 6.50 with Betfair
Back them here:
Back Hong Kong to win World Cup of Darts (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 151.00 with Sky Bet (1/3 1-2)
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
