The PDC 2021 World Cup Darts

The PDC 2021 World Cup Darts will be the eleventh edition and it may be the most interesting ever. Traditionally it has been dominated by the big two darting nations, England and the Netherlands. Both have won four times, but the last two years have seen a change. Scotland won in 2019 and last year it was Wales who won their first World Cup.

The secret to winning? Having two really good players. Phil Taylor basically carried the England team, but he always had a very good number 2, most notably Adrian Lewis. The Netherlands had won before MVG arrived, but he and Raymond van Barneveld were hard to beat.

Since Taylor and Barney retired, MVG has played with Jermaine Wattimena, losing in the semi-final in 2019, and Danny Noppert in 2020, losing in the quarter final. Clearly losing Van Barneveld has hurt the Netherlands chances and Dutch darts may not have the strength in depth to supply Van Gerwen with a strong enough number two to actually win the Cup.

This season MVG will be joined by Dirk van Duijvenbode. The Dutch now have their number 1 player far from his best form, joined by a player who has lost nine of his last ten matches. They are hard to fancy.

2021 World Cup Darts: Times Changing

England last won in 2016, with Taylor and Lewis. That was Taylor’s last year in the team and since then we have seen various line ups coming up short but last year Rob Cross and Michael Smith were runners up. This year we have another line up, James Wade and Dave Chisnall. A very experienced team, a good team, but no World Champion representing England? The times they are a changing.

Wales are the defending champions, and they have the strongest line up in the tournament. World Champion and world number 1 Gerwyn Price is once again joined by the 2021 Premier League winner, Jonny Clayton. Between them this season they have won the World Championship, the Masters, The Premier League, the Hungarian darts Trophy and four players championship titles. They are a both in great form, a very strong pairing and the overwhelming favourites.

Tough Task For Scotland

Scotland are recent winners, the 2019 champions with Peter Wright and Gary Anderson. A former and future World Champion line up eventually won it after Scotland had been being runner up twice. Last year saw both Anderson and Wright refuse to play, and it was left to John Henderson and Robert Thornton to represent Scotland, losing to Wales in the second round.

This year sees the return of Peter Wright but Gary ‘I’m going to play in everything going in 2021’ Anderson has once again declined to play. John Henderson is his replacement. Hendo is a very popular figure, but he is no Gary Anderson. It will be very hard for Wright to carry Henderson to the title.

No other nation has won the World Cup of Darts. The simple truth is that few nations have the strength in depth to field two top quality players. There are only 13 teams with two tour card holders in their line-up. The four mentioned previously and the rest are as follows.

Belgium Can Go On Good Run

Belgium are the fourth seeds and are represented by Dimitri van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts. Van den Bergh is a major champion and the world number 5. His most recent form is good, reaching the final of the World Matchplay and his win rate in 2021 is up to 63% from just 53% in 2020. He is one of the best players in the world, but will he be able to carry the fading Huybrechts?

Kim was in the 2013 line up when Belgium were runners up. He is now the world number 36 and falling. He can hit the high notes occasionally, scoring big numbers, but more often it is a sub 90 average. Huybrechts is still very competitive, very experienced, can contribute and Belgium can have a good run once again.

2021 World Cup Darts: North Not Out Of It

Northern Ireland are being touted as a dark horse for the tournament. The fifth seeds are represented once again by Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan. The two players are both top 30 ranked, Gurney is a two time major champion but more importantly, both are showing good recent form. Superchin has slipped to sixteenth in the world rankings, but his most recent form has seen him starting to hit bigger numbers.

It is Brendan Dolan who is in the better form these days. On the more current form reflective FDI rankings, Dolan is ranked tenth and Gurney twenty third. Dolan has won a players championship title this year and is ninth on the pro tour OOM (Gurney twenty sixth). They reached the semi-final in 2016 but since then they have disappointed going out in the first round three times and the second round once.

Aussies Will Be Emotional

Seventh seeds Australia were runners up way back in 2012 and this year are once again represented by Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta. No doubt they will be emotionally charged, doing it for Kyle, but Whitlock is not quite the player he was and Heta is still learning the ropes. If they both find their A games a good run is possible. They played well together last year, losing to Wales in the quarter finals but it was a close match.

Germany, the eighth seeds, are once more the home team, and are represented by Gabriel Clemens and Max Hopp. Just as Martin Schindler starts showing some form again, he is replaced by the higher-ranking Clemens. It is a decent line up, but Max Hopp’s career has stalled, his annual average is below 90 and he has lost six of his last ten matches. Clemens is a promising player, the German number one but he can’t carry Hopp very far, and it must be said, he was playing better two years ago. His average in 2019 was 94.45 but that has dropped to 93.19.

Unseeded Teams

Outside of the seeded teams we have Ireland, runners up in 2019, once again represented by William O’Connor and Steve Lennon. There is no reason to believe that can repeat that run but they are a decent team and might win a match or two.

The Czech Republic have Hungarian Darts Trophy quarter finalist Adam Gawlas and Karel Sedláček for the second year. That is a fairly competitive line up, but they are not possible winners. Poland have Ratajski and Kciuk who reached the second round last year. Spain is represented by journeyman pro Jesus Noguera and Jose Justica who won a European Challenge Tour event last week. Austria will once more be represented by Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez.

Dark Horses

The dark horses dark horse has to be Canada. Jeff Smith and Matt Campbell reached the quarter finals last year, beating Northern Ireland in the first round and New Zealand in the second, losing the quarter to Belgium. Campbell is a real talent and just last weekend he topped the European Challenge Tour OOM and won himself a two-year tour card, a place in the Grand Slam of Darts and the World Championship.

Jeff Smith is a good player but the whole Covid thing has really made living in Canada whilst trying to play on the pro tour very challenging and indeed, expensive. This is a good chance to pick up some cash (£8k each last year) and they can have another good run. They face Germany in the first round, so they could have had a better draw, but it is not the worst either.

Portugal have Jose de Sousa and José Marquês as they did last year. They beat Hungary but lost to Austria in round two. It is a bit of a one-man team which means making much progress will be difficult.

The other nations are making up the numbers. There is always the possibility of one of them causing an upset in the first round, a best of nine leg doubles but none are going to challenge for the title.

Major Winning Form Crucial

It is hard to see past a handful of teams when considering who is going to win. Last year was the first time the cup had been won by a team without a world champion in their line-up, but Gerwyn Price was already a major winner and went on to win the World Championship a few months later. Clearly you want a team with at the very least, a major winner in it.

Only three teams have a World Champion, The Netherlands, Scotland and Wales.

For The Netherlands Michael van Gerwen isn’t in great form. He hasn’t won a title since last November. He has lost three of his last four matches and while he remains a top player and a heavy scorer, his confidence is lacking. Dirk van Duijvenbode has lost nine of his last ten matches. His game really took off in 2019-2020 and he is a very good player, but he has lost his form right now.

Scotland have Peter Wright as a former World Champion and he is in good form in 2021, winning four players championship titles. John Henderson suffered a bad loss of form and weight in 2020. His win rate went from 61% in 2019 to 47% in 2020 and is only 43% in 2021. His scoring has started to improve but at 91.5 it is below the pro tour average.

Hendo Needs A-Game

If he finds his A game, he can contribute, but that A game is only seen once in every four matches on average. Scotland are in the fourth quarter and will meet the winner of the Poland vs. Czech Republic match and that will be an early test before a likely quarter final with The Netherlands which would be a toss up.

Wales on the other hand tick all the boxes. They have the current World Champion in their team, and he is joined by one of the best players in the world, Jonny Clayton. Both are multiple title winners in 2021. Wales are the defending champions with two of the world’s best player and both in good form. They will be strong favourites to win any team they face.

4 points Wales to win the 2021 World Cup Darts @ 3.25 with Ladbrokes, Betfair, Skybet, Betvictor

Other teams worth considering are England and Northern Ireland.

England have a good draw. Wales, The Netherlands and Scotland are all in the bottom half of the draw. Canada could test them in a quarter final before they could meet Belgium or Northern Ireland in the semi-final. James Wade is in good form and an asset to any team. Dave Chisnall has been more inconsistent of late and his win rate in 2021 is down to 59%, his lowest since 2014. He can still produce ridiculous averages, like his 120 against Ted Evetts in PC13 but he puts in too many poor performances to win many titles and the same can be said for James Wade.

Northern Ireland has two very experienced players in Gurney and Dolan. Brendan Dolan is one of the most improved players of 2021 while major winner Daryl Gurney is showing signs that his best form isn’t far away. Not far away is not as good as right now and Wales are the team that has it all.

-JamesPunt