The PDC World Cup of Darts continues on Friday night as the first round of the tournament draws to a close in Frankfurt and this is the night where the number one seeds England come into play. At the end of the night we will know the 16 nations going into the weekend where doubles initially gives way to singles.
Thursday recap
Shocks were few and far between on the opening night of the tournament but we correctly predicted one of the two matches in which the betting outsider prevailed. That saw Denmark beating Sweden 5-2. The other surprise was the Philippines taking out USA. That aside the evening largely went to plan for the bigger nations.
We did see some new names make a big impression. Cor Dekker played a massive part in Norway’s win over Gibraltar while Cody Harris was arguably the best player of the entire night as New Zealand lost narrowly to Scotland.
Friday preview
Friday begins with the Czech Republic taking on China with the winners potentially facing England in the next round. They are followed by Greece against Canada in a match which sees the first of four world champions who are in action on the evening toeing the oche. That is of course John Part and his Canadian partner Ken MacNeil.
Republic of Ireland are up third as Mick McGowan and William O’Connor take on Royden Lam and Scott MacKenzie of Hong Kong before dancing Devon Petersen will look to get South Africa past the potentially tricky challenge of Singapore.
The big names come thick and fast for the rest of the evening. Northern Ireland host Japan in a real banana skin while Wales take on former semi-finalists Finland in a match which could get tricky if they let it. England begin their title defence against the potentially very tough challenge of Spain and then the evening is rounded off with Austria taking on Italy.
Betting
Much like the opening night the bets don’t come naturally in this session but I am heading to Asia for a couple of bets where I see two nations who look heavily overpriced to me. They are Hong Kong and Japan who could well surprise the Irish pairings.
Lam and MacKenzie are really good performers who have plenty of experience on the big stage not just this one but the World Championships among others and they have the knowledge that they beat Republic of Ireland on their way to the quarter finals last year.
Connie Finnan partnered William O’Connor last year but although McGowan came through Q-School he’s done nothing since so I’m not sure Ireland will be that much stronger than last year. Lam and MacKenzie team up well together and they have more than an even chance in that match.
Japan may have a lower chance against Northern Ireland but they are not a forlorn hope. Keita Ono impressed massively at the World Championship in December and Haruki Muramatsu has been around on these stages for a while and hasn’t let anyone down.
They have nothing to lose against Northern Ireland for whom Daryl Gurney is a real class act but is making his debut in this tournament but there could be an opening against the grossly out of form Brendan Dolan. While Gurney is a real star in the making he can go missing on the doubles so if Japan can get ahead early and get the Irish duo under pressure they might get their full rewards.
In the other matches much will be made of the challenge Spain will bring to England. Being dangers is one thing, winning is quite another and while I don’t think Spain will go quietly I don’t think they’ll win and I don’t really see any of the other favourites losing so I’ll stick with the Asian countries to keep me interested on Friday.
PDC World Cup of Darts Tips
Back Hong Kong to beat Ireland for a 4/10 stake at 2.30 with Coral
Back Japan to beat Northern Ireland for a 3/10 stake at 3.60 with Coral
Back them here:
