Sunday Afternoon World Cup of Darts Preview

One bet last night and one winner. Hopefully we can fire in another one or two on quarter finals day. Check out James Punt’s Sunday Afternoon World Cup of Darts tips below.

Wales vs. Sweden

Wales kicked off their campaign with a resounding 8-2 thrashing of Denmark. They averaged 99.97 and looked the best team of the second round by a clear margin.

Sweden have improved match by match and they averaged 91.44 in an 8-5 win over a faltering Canada. It was good performance but they are unlikely to get as many chances as they were given by Canada.

Wales are the 1.06 favourites, Sweden 13.00. I can only see one winner here and it’s not Sweden. Even giving up a -3.5 leg handicap Wales are still just 1.35. It is not a great betting opportunity. No bet.

Sunday Afternoon World Cup of Darts Tip: No bet

Belgium vs. Australia

Australia will need to get their fingers out if they are to have any hope of defending their title. In yesterday’s 8-6 win over Croatia they played in fits and starts and showed no great consistency of performance.

In the first half of the match, Simon Whitlock was AWOL and Heta was struggling to carry the team. Whitlock then came out fighting and turned the tables on Croatia but they still struggled to get over the line against a team that were playing OK, but nothing special.

Proper Match

The Belgian duo of Van den Bergh and Huybrechts won the match of the day yesterday. It required a deciding leg and a bit of theatrics from Van den Bergh to get the job down against The Netherlands. It was a proper match with both teams averaging in the low 90s.

From not being on speaking terms a couple of days ago, these two are on the cusp of another World Cup semi-final for Belgium. They have averaged over 90 in all three of their matches so far with a combined average of 92.53. That compares favourably to Australia’s 86.41.

We have a small e/w bet on Australia to win the tournament so hopefully they can find their A game, but there is more to like about the Belgians’ performances so far and not a lot to like about Australia’s.

These two met in last year’s quarter final and Australia won the deciding pairs match (4-0). Australia have not impressed so far and Belgium look the more likely winner.

Sunday Afternoon World Cup of Darts Tip: 1 point Belgium to win @ 1.80 generally available

Scotland vs. France

The Philippines made Scotland work for their win yesterday. A 141 checkout by Gary Anderson made it 7-5 to Scotland, just as the Philippines looked like making it 6-6. It was a match winning throw in the end. They averaged a respectable 89.01 and something similar will do here.

France are averaging just 82.58 and they have not faced much coming at them. Northern Ireland didn’t show up in their first match, Ukraine were not a serious proposition and South Africa only averaged 75.99 in yesterday’s 8-4 French win.

Wright Off Form

Scotland relied heavily on Gary Anderson yesterday. Peter Wright’s game is still missing and he was changing his darts mid match. Anderson coped with the pace of play better than I thought he might. Scotland will need both players to turn up at some point but while they had a tough draw in the last round, they have got the weakest team left in the tournament today.

Scotland are the 1.20 favourite and like Wales vs. Sweden, this is not a great betting opportunity. No bet.

Sunday Afternoon World Cup of Darts Tip: No bet

England vs. Germany

A Sunday afternoon home crowd might be a little more restrained than the Saturday night crowd…

Germany beat Poland 8-6 in a close match last night. They are averaging a respectable 88.34 across their three matches and that will keep them in the match, but they are likely to come up short against Cross and Smith, so long as the Englishman both turn up. England averaged 93.5 in their 8-4 win over Latvia. It was plain sailing and they were solid in all departments but with room for improvement.

England Favs

England are the 1.53 favourites, Germany 2.63. That looks a touch generous about England. Yes, they are playing the crowd and the team, but Smith and Cross are World Champions with a ton of big match experience. Germany are good enough to make a match of it but I’ll take England to cover the handicap.

Sunday Afternoon World Cup of Darts Tip: 1 point England to win -1.5 legs @ 1.80 with SportingIndex

That is all from me for this event. Fingers crossed that England can (or Australia) can go all the way tonight. Wales will be hard to stop, but not impossible.

-JamesPunt