Netherlands loses to Wales at World Cup

Wim Blokpoel - Yesterday the 2022 PDC Cazoo World Cup of Darts came to an end. After a comfortable win over the Republic of Ireland, The Netherlands took on Northern Ireland in the quarter-finals: Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan.

UK Open Champion Danny Noppert started against Gurney. Everything went with the dwrts, until 2-2 when Gurney missed darts for a 3-2 lead, and instead it was Noppert who went 3-2 up. ‘The Freeze’ then held throw once more for a 4-2 win, one win away from fhe semi-finals. ‘Aubergenius’ Dirk van Duijvenbode took on Dolan, but missed darts for a 2-0 lead as it was 1-1. Van Duijvenbode then missed another six darts at double as he went 1-2 behind, and it was four more darts at double missed by the Dutchman as he went 1-3 down. A 92 finish made it 2-3, and DVD then out of absolutely nowhere hit an amazing 153-finish for 3-3! In the deciding leg, a 15-darter did the job for Van Duijvenbode: both single games won as The Netherlands went into the semi-finals!

There they played Wales: Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton! Noppert started against Price. In the first leg, Noppert missed six darts at double and went 0-1 down. After that, ‘The Freeze’ played just poor, and went 0-3 down with Price averaging below 85 himself. Noppert did get a leg, and made it 1-3 but ‘The Iceman’ had a 12-darter in leg five as Noppert lost 1-4. Van Duijvenbode had to beat Clayton to stay with a chance for the World Cup final. Both men hit an 11-darter, and Van Duijvenbode followed it in 12 darts and it was 2-2. Clayton held throw once more for 3-2, and Van Duijvenbode had to win two legs in a row. A lot of pressure, and it turned out to be too much as ‘DVD’ lost 2-4 and The Netherlands went out in the semi-finals to Wales. Still a great run for Noppert and Van Duijvenbode, the furthest they ever went in the World Cup!