ONE of the more unique events on the PDC calendar, the World Cup will be in its usual home of Germany, with 32 sets of pairs battling to win for their country.
It’s been dominated by the home nations (and the Netherlands) so far, but will we see a shock this time round?
In a word… No. Despite the format being quirky with doubles matches featuring for the only time in a TV tournament, it’s still weighted towards the countries with two top players.
Once you get past the first round, it reverts to singles matches, with doubles only being used if each country wins one game each.
So you can immediately disregard all but the top eight countries in the betting.
WALES open up as the favourites and with arguably the strongest two players combined in Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price, it’s easy to see why.
Their potential path to the final avoids England and reigning champions Scotland, though a potential quarter-final against the tournament-hosting Germans await.
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ENGLAND have a horror draw despite being #1 seeds. A huge banana skin opener against the Czechs gives way to (potentially) Scotland in the quarters, Australia/Scotland in the semis and Wales in the final.
James Wade & Michael Smith have never paired up in this event either. At 4/1, there’s absolutely no juice in the price.
THE NETHERLANDS are third-favourites but will be without Michael van Gerwen, who is off injured.
Partnering Dirk van Duijvenbode will be UK Open winner Danny Noppert (remember that?), and they should get through a section that contains Brazil and both Irish nations.
But despite there never being a shock winner, I italicised should as there always seems to be a nation that has a Cinderella run.
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Austria and Ireland have made the final before, Singapore beat #1 Scotland a few years ago. (On this note, CANADA at 100/1 is for me the best three-figure price each way of any nation this year.
Not a tip, but also don’t bang on my door if they suddenly end up in the last eight!)
We haven’t seen Noppert on our screens since the UK Open win and van Duijvenbode didn’t make the quarters in either TV tournament he entered this year.
I can see them getting upset somewhere along the line, which could open the bottom half up for the Welsh, but more on that later.
BELGIUM round out the top four seeds and the eye is caught immediately by the pairing.
Dimitri Van den Bergh comes straight from Copenhagen, having won the Nordic Darts Masters in supreme style.
He’s supported by Kim Huybrechts, who loves this stage (his celebrations with brother Ronny has wound up more than one opponent in the past).
He may not be quite as good as his Premier League past but Huybrechts is still a serious player.
In the World Championships last December, he got knocked out by Gerwyn Price in a sudden death leg and I truly believe if he was playing anyone other than the-then World #1, he’d have won.
Games against Poland/Australia could keep them honest and if they end up playing England or Scotland, I honestly fancy their chances.
9/1 is a cracking price and is worth a small play. But I’m saving my larger bet for…
Look, it’s not a big price, but I really can’t see past the Welsh, especially in the bottom half.
Yes Price hasn’t hit any lofty heights in 2022 but him and Clayton have shown they can win on this stage (2020 winners), they’re genuinely good friends and only an outlying performance from John Henderson last year stopped them reaching the final again.
It should be a cracking tournament, no matter what your allegiances are.
Let’s just hope the Italians don’t ruin another summer tournament for us Englishmen…
TIPS
2.5pts – Wales @ 7/4 – GET HERE
1pt – Belgium @ 10/1 – GET HERE
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