The second day of action at the World Cup of Darts sees the group stage of the competition being concluded over two sessions of play in Frankfurt where at the end of it we will know the shape of the draw for the knockout stages.
We now know this tournament is completely pairs from here on in and the change to the format brought about some good darts on the opening night and as players get used to the difference the quality is likely to get even better. There is an afternoon and an evening session on Friday but the afternoon results will heavily skew the way the even could pan out and with little time between the two we’ll focus purely on the earlier matches here.
First Four Matches
We get underway with a Finland side who know they simply have to win to stay alive in the competition after their opening night mauling. They will be looking to see off a China side who should be out of their depth at this level. Singapore lost their opening match of the tournament and if they are going to remain in the event then they will need to see off a dark horse Philippines side in the second match of the day before Switzerland will look to keep their hopes alive when they go up against Sweden. The first part of the afternoon concludes with Portugal looking to stay afloat when they take on Lithuania.
Middle Four Matches
The middle part of the afternoon session begins with New Zealand looking to bounce back from defeat to Latvia on Thursday evening. They will be expected to beat the debutants Bahrain but need to do it as emphatically as possible to keep their qualifying hopes realistic. Spain are in the last chance saloon when they go up against an inexperienced Iceland side before Thailand look to keep their tournament hopes alive when they meet Croatia. Northern Ireland didn’t play very well on Friday and need a huge win over Ukraine if they are to have any chance of remaining in the competition.
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Last Four Matches
India were more competitive on Thursday night than many expected them to be and that will give them hope that they can stay afloat when they go up against a Hungary pairing who aren’t likely to give too much away. Hong Kong were taken to the cleaners in their opening match and are playing largely for pride as a result of that. Japan will look to pile the misery on their Asian rivals. Guyana looked out of their depth on Thursday evening and that might be music to the ears of Gibraltar in the penultimate match of the afternoon before we conclude the session with Austria looking to revive their hopes when they meet USA.
Betting
There is a lot of pressure on Austria in the final match of the afternoon when they go up against USA but I think they can handle that. To be fair, USA have the potential to be a good team because at his best Jules van Dongen can really play and for all his showmanship, Leonard Gates is a good player as well. The problem for USA is they might be getting Austria at the wrong time. Not only have they had a match on the stage and as a pair but Mensur Suljovic has come into form.
Austria lost to Denmark on the opening night but they didn’t do much wrong. They averaged over 90 as a pairing and if you do that in this tournament you won’t lose many matches. The problem they had is they ran into a Danish player who was inspired for a couple of legs and in a best of seven that is all it needs. If the Austrian pair deliver the same level they did on Thursday I think they’ll have too much for a van Dongen who has only won four matches all year and Gates who can be an enigma at the best of times.
Tips
Back Austria to beat USA for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with William Hill
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