Saturday Evening World Cup of Darts Preview – JP
Saturday Evening World Cup of Darts Preview
It was a tough session for us this afternoon but we did manage to nick one winner with the Philippines handicap bet. We go again tonight, check out James Punt’s Saturday Evening World Cup of Darts tips below.
Wales vs. Denmark
The Danes have averaged 86.4 across their win against Austria and defeat against the USA. They are the only team to qualify for the second round without winning two matches.
Tournament favourites Wales should have no bother winning this. They have a very strong pairing who have played in five World Cups as a pair and they have won one, been runner up once, a semi-finalist and quarter finalist once and lost a first round once.
That first round loss was the year Price flew in straight from a family holiday in the USA, jet lagged and under prepared. He was in Germany on Monday and Tuesday playing Players Championships this time, but Clayton was not. I wonder if he has been taking a holiday?
It shouldn’t matter. The Danes have done well to get here and their second string player Benjamin Drue Reus has played well. Vladimir Andersen is a bit of a show pony and he’ll get found out here.
Wales are the 1.06 favourites, Denmark 13.00. They are 1.85 giving up a -4.5 leg handicap and there is no obvious value in this match.
Saturday Evening World Cup of Darts Tip: No Bet
England vs. Latvia
England will have been happy with the draw but they will need to be up to the task as Latvia have been decent so far, averaging 87.2 across their wins over New Zealand and Bahrain. This will be a much tougher task of course, but an 87 average in pairs is not bad.
Cross and Smith have played seven pairs matches at the World Cup and never averaged below 90, so they should have a significant scoring advantage.
England are the 1.13 favourites, Latvia 8.00. It is hard to argue with that. It is not a great betting match and I’ll leave this alone.
Saturday Evening World Cup of Darts Tip: No Bet
Netherlands vs. Belgium
The Belgian pair of Van den Bergh and Huybrechts may not be on speaking terms, but they won group A and averaged 92.5 doing so. As a pairing they have played in five World Cups and reached two semi-finals and two quarter finals, so they know the ropes. This is a different format now, but so far so good, despite their personal fall out.
The Netherlands, once the dominant force in the World Cup, have struggled a bit in recent years. This pair of Noppert and Van Duijvenbode played last year after another MVG withdrawal, and they reached the semi-final. This year, the two players are not in great form.
Not At best
Noppert has not been at his best since a Players Championship win back in January and Dirk van Duijvenbode’s form went south when he damaged his knee during an over exuberant walk on a few weeks ago. He has lost six of his last ten matches, but he did look closer to his old self in this week’s Players Championships.
Belgium are the 2.50 outsiders and The Netherlands the 1.62 favourites. The whole thing about Huybrechts and Van den Bergh falling out muddies the water here. I guess they can get on with it when they are winning, but if they are losing? It could be easy for one of them to get the hump.
I am not totally convinced with The Netherlands form as individuals and this is another match I am happy to leave alone.
Saturday Evening World Cup of Darts Tip: No Bet
Poland vs. Germany
The home fans will be overly served by this point. Poland will face a wall of whistles and boos but they will be feeling great after setting a new World Cup record average of 118.10. They only averaged 80 when beating Portugal 4-3 in their opening match, so it is hard to say where they are.
Germany didn’t drop a leg in their two 4-0 wins over Japan and Hong Kong. They hit averages of 93.9 and 84.6 and were never asked a question. They will be here.
Poland have never progressed beyond the second round in twelve appearances. Germany have made at least the quarter final in seven of the last ten World Cups. It helps that nine of them were held in Germany, although ironically their best run was to the semi-finals the year that Austria was the host.
Germany are the 1.67 favourites, Poland 2.60. Will home advantage be the decider? I think so.
