Day three of the World Cup and a packed Saturday night in Frankfurt delivered high drama, as host nation Germany dumped out the favourites and reigning champions, England, to book their place in the quarter-finals.
And that wasn’t the only shock of the evening. The impressive Netherlands duo beating two-time winners Scotland was always on the cards – but a whitewash? No one saw that coming, not even the most passionate Dutch darts fan. If you nailed the correct score cast for both the Scotland and England games, you’re probably shopping for yachts right now.
We’re now down to the final eight. Here’s what went down in Germany tonight – and how the last four quarter-final spots for tomorrow afternoon were decided.
WALES 8-2 PHILIPPINES
Two-time World Cup of Darts champions Wales got off to an emphatic start, blowing the island nation Philippines out of the water. This rampant Red Dragon of Price and Clayton duo haven’t lost a knockout match since 2022 – and on this kind of power scoring performance, closing in on a high 90s average, that run looks hard to break. By the interval, Wales were 5-2 up, and at that point, it was theirs to lose. Which, of course, they didn’t.
Credit to the Asian pairing of Wayne Mardle’s favourite, Lourence Ilagan, and Paolo Nebrida. They scored reasonably well – though most of that was down to Nebrida. As they say, it takes two to tango, but Ilagan never really joined the dance. And when odd chances did come, neither could take advantage.
Gezzy and Mr Ferret will want to tidy up their doubles before facing the impressive Team Hong Kong tomorrow. Fortunately for them, their scoring was so good tonight they could afford a bit of faffing about at the end of legs. But their next Asian opponents will surely offer a far sterner test – and if the Welsh don’t sharpen their finishing, they might just get punished.
SCOTLAND 0-8 NETHERLANDS
Within quarter of an hour of walking on to I Would Walk 500 Miles, Ando and Snakey now face a flight home of similar distance to what the Proclaimers sang about. Take nothing away from the Dutch duo, who were as destructive as they were clinical. In contrast, Scotland just didn’t get going. Before taking to the stage, Wright referenced Paul Lim’s heroics at 71 years old and said he could go on that long if he wanted to. He probably aged enough during this contest to have reached that milestone.
In essence, Noppert and Van Veen were simply sensational – scoring heavily and barely missing a double. Even if the decorated and experienced Scottish pair had hit the heights they’ve reached for decades, it still would have been a tough test. It’s worth reminding everyone at this point that Gian van Veen is making his debut in this tournament. Against two of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he could have been forgiven for suffering a little stage fright. But there was absolutely no sign of that. Alongside the cool, calm and collected Noppie, Team Netherlands have laid down a massive marker and fired warning shots to the rest of the field.
ENGLAND 4-8 GERMANY
Well… that certainly wasn’t in the script – especially not in tournament sponsor BetVictor’s manual. Everyone said with the Luke duo – the best two on the planet – it was England’s to lose. But Schindler and Pietreczko ignored the odds and put in a belter of a show.
Despite famously defeating Germany in the 1966 final, English football fans are all too familiar with heartbreaking World Cup losses to this opposition. Now it’s happened in darts – and in all fairness, Deutschland deserved it. From 5-2 up at the break, the home nation extended the lead to go within one of victory and, after a mini Anglo revival, sewed things up.
Team Germany knew they’d have to be right on song to cause an upset. Well, they hit all the right notes and produced a performance that will go down in World Cup history. As in most matches that end with similar averages, it was the doubles that made the difference – and it was a department where England struggled, ultimately sealing their fate. If Littler wasn’t fond of playing on German soil over there beforehand, this won’t have done much to soften his mood. Together with Cool Hand, the pair leave Frankfurt with MBEs – but, disappointingly, not with the trophy.
ARGENTINA 1-8 AUSTRALIA
The former World Cup winning pairing of Heta and Whitlock eased effortlessly into the quarter-finals against an Argentinian team who, unfortunately, couldn’t replicate their impressive group stage displays.
It was an Aussie team who weren’t firing on all cylinders but never looked in danger. There were a few messy legs at the start, but the Down Under duo nicked them all, and a little before it reached 5-0, things looked done and dusted. Perhaps if the South Americans had produced what they did in the group section, we might have been looking at a different story – that said, Australia clearly had extra gears to use if needed. All that aside, the Antipodeans will know they need to retune the engine ahead of Germany tomorrow – something they’ll be well aware of.
Quarter-Final Line Up
Northern Ireland v Republic Of Ireland
Germany v Australia
Wales v Hong Kong
Netherlands v Czechia
—–ENDS—–
Images: Jenny Segers / PDC Europe
