World Cup of Darts: Paul Nicholson on why the tournament is so special and what it takes for teams to go far

• World Cup draw and schedule

The Asset was one half of the Australian side alongside Simon Whitlock for the first five stagings of the tournament from 2010 to 2015, including their memorable run to the 2012 final.

Despite the famously agonising nature of that match – which Nicholson reflected upon in one of his previous columns – the World Cup is a competition he holds extremely close to his heart having also reached the semi-finals twice and the quarters.

So who better to analyse the importance of team spirit and the pairs format ahead of this year’s event as well as trying to pick the potential winners than the man himself?!

Up for the Cup

The World Cup of Darts is one of those events which is made even more special by the fans – especially when Germany have been on home soil - so it’s obviously a shame for Austria that they won’t get that same support with it being played behind closed doors.

The lack of real atmosphere will marginally favour those who aren’t used to big crowds such as the New Zealand pairing of Cody Harris and Haupai Puha so I really wouldn’t be surprised to see some outsiders coming out of the pack.

Although the lovable Singapore Slingers of Paul Lim and Harith Lam, who obviously revel in fan support, are now unable to take part, Portugal will be potentially a dangerous replacement with in-form Jose De Sousa alongside the much lesser known Jose Marques

Pretty much all we’ve seen this year are shock runs from the likes of Dimitri Van den Bergh in the World Matchplay and Dirk van Duijvenbode reaching the World Grand Prix final, while we had the surprise of having two debutants in Glen Durrant and Nathan Aspinall taking the Premier League by storm.

On top of that we’ve had first-time European Tour winners in Devon Petersen and Jose De Sousa, so if this trend continues you should expect the unexpected at the World Cup. Somebody is going to have a huge run that you wouldn't see coming. It's going to happen. It’s almost guaranteed!

Welsh wonders

I’d say Wales should be favourites with Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton based on current form, existing chemistry and passion.

They’re going to be very hard to stop with that Welsh pride brimming through their veins and Price does have experience of reaching a World Cup final with Mark Webster.

This is a tremendous opportunity for them to lift the trophy for the first time because the Netherlands aren’t as strong as previous years while there are question marks over Michael Smith and Rob Cross for England.

Scotland are obviously weaker than usual with Robert Thornton and John Henderson so it’s very open outside of the ‘big three’.

Aussie rules

Australia are unseeded but in Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta they have two players in brilliant form right now and could end up being the biggest threats to Wales in the third quarter of the draw.

However, they do have a nightmare first-round match against William O’Connor and Steve Lennon of the Republic of Ireland. Lennon has been playing well without any clear success while O’Connor reached the European Championship quarter-final so he’s going to be feeling confident coming into this.

They reached the World Cup final together last year and will need to remind themselves that they are one of the strongest overall pairings.

If they don’t, then Whitlock and Heta could cruise it because they have showed passionate form in recent weeks and months and will be fired up for this.

Whoever wins that match will probably beat either Devon Petersen’s South Africa or Krzysztof Ratajski’s Poland and then set up a mouth-watering battle with Wales in the quarters.

Perils of Pairs

The pairs format of the first round is incredibly cut-throat and shocks can happen anywhere. It’s a completely different type of game to singles.

Your usual playing rhythm goes out of the window as you obviously have to wait a lot longer between your own visits, and this means you have to be even more focused on the fewer darts that you do get to throw.

Having more people on stage is also difficult for some players to get used to, while there’s also the pressure of having the national shirt on your back.

Therefore, I think whoever goes deep in this is going to have previous experience of playing in a World Cup or pairs tournaments. The first round is always the worst game unless you get embroiled in some sort of sudden death leg in a semi or final - which I know lots about (!) - but if you can come through it with confidence and chemistry you can go very, very far.

Look at Japan who reached the semi-finals last year and have a very strong team again with Seigo Asada and Yuki Yamada. They meet Scotland first up in what could be a thriller that sets either team on their way.

The first round is nerve-wracking and if you can go backstage and hammer out a really good bond with your partner before you play your first game, that's half the battle won.

However, if you don't get along with your partner, don't feel comfortable with them or don't feel comfortable with the rhythm of pairs, you're going to come a cropper.

A few years ago, Peter Wright and Gary Anderson weren’t on each other's Christmas card list and suffered some disappointing results together.

However, last year they looked relaxed and almost as though they were having a laugh with each other. They took it all in their stride and were ultimately that much better than everybody else and won it.

One-man teams

In pairs you often need one player to be in blockbuster form and the other to chip in with the odd ton. No team can really afford to have a player that’s carried too much.

Jose De Sousa and Devon Petersen have both been two of the best players on the planet over the past few months but few fans will have heard of their respective team-mates Jose Marques and Carl Gabriel.

You can assume their usual averages will be around 78 to 87 so if they can back them up with a few decent scores – or the odd winning double - then there’s no reason why they can’t get through the first two rounds.

The overall standard in South Africa is pretty good but they haven’t had the kind of exposure that Devon has created for himself over the past few years and that’s helped make him the player he is today.

However, the positivity that Petersen generates as a person – let alone as South Africa captain – will have such a massive impact on his partner, who will feel 10 foot tall. It’s impossible not to feel confident around Devon.

Dangerous outsiders

There’s only a couple of first-round matches where I can’t see an early shock.

Brazil’s Diogo Portela and Bruno Rangel will both need to play at the absolute top of their games and hope Michael van Gerwen and Danny Noppert have a nightmare to get past the Netherlands, while the same could be said of Russian duo Boris Koltsov and Aleksei Kadochnikovagainst Wales.

As dangerous as Boris is, he just can’t carry Kadochnikov in this match because Price and Clayton will be too good.

Petersen will need the aforementioned back up from Carl Gabriel against Poland because both Krzysztof Ratajski and Krzysztof Kciukcan obviously play to a high standard.

Kciuk has got enough experience on the stage in European Tour events, Lakeside and World Cups to give Ratajski better support than Petersen will probably get from Gabriel.

I wouldn't part money with England v Philippines at all because the relationship between Noel Malicdem and Laurence Ilagan is tight and they are both very dangerous players.

Noel was in a great position to take out Peter Wright in his World Championship winning campaign so if I was Michael Smith or Rob Cross, I’d be having bad dreams about this fixture!

This is what makes the World Cup great. We wouldn't have even bat an eyelid at the Philippines 10 years ago when the World Cup started in Sunderland, but now this is a very, very different darting landscape and the Philippines are going to cause England all sorts of trouble.

The beauty of the World Cup and the first round of the World Championship is that you get to see different talents that you wouldn't usually see.

I'm a darts fan as well as someone who works within the sport and I want to watch these matches – it’s one of the most exciting things of the year for me. When I lived in Australia, I got to see all these different talents and styles from places like South Africa, New Zealand and Malaysia.

The Czech Republic are starting to make proper strides in darts and Adam Gawlas will provide strong support for Karel Sedlacek, so if Belgium think they’ll have it easy first up then they should think again.

Canada could also be a dark horse with Jeff Smith supported by Matt Campbell, who is very proficient.

Smith is relishing this chance having not played in a World Cup for a while and you won’t yet have seen the best of Campbell on TV. Trust me, he does have a very high level.

They have a tough opener against Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan but after that it’s a very winnable tie against either New Zealand or Denmark before a probable quarter-final with Belgium.

They play a lot of pairs in Canada so they’ll both be used to this format and ready to bring the fireworks into this clash. Also, bare in mind they are both travelling a long way from North America for this event so they desperately want to leave a mark.

Team spirit

There’s a few teams who could go far with the strength of their team spirit and the one that sticks out is Belgium. I think there's a lot of respect between Van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts although the roles have reversed now that Dimitri is the number one. That shouldn’t bother Kim and it may actually take the pressure off.

He’s always been the captain when he's played for Belgium and now he can play the supporting role as someone who's got a little bit of form. If they can come through against the Czech guys, Belgium could go deep here.

Looking back at some of the experiences I've had and the teams I’ve seen that have genuine passion for striving to win this tournament, Belgium is definitely one of them.

We've had our battles in the past but I really do respect that nation for how they’ve tried to get over line in the past.

Japan will be dangerous with Seigo Asada. He’s a phenomenal darts player and will show plenty of class alongside Yuki Yamada.

Clayton and Price get on great, as we’ve already mentioned, and I'm intrigued by Germany because they've got a decent first round tie against Finland, which they should win, and if Clemens and Hopp can really click then there's no reason why Germany can't win this.

Hopp is blasting 180s at the moment and we all know how good Clemens is now, officially becoming the German number one.

For just the second time they won’t have the benefit of playing on home soil but it’s perhaps unfair they experienced that advantage so many times!

If it was down to me it would be like the Eurovision Song Contest, with the winning nation earning the right to stage it the following year. That said, if Australia win under that format, there would be a lot of money spent on air fares!

I think England would have had a better chance if it was Michael Smith with Nathan Aspinall due to form and the chemistry potentially being better. I’m not sure the relationship between Michael and Rob is as potent.

It would be better – as I mentioned in more depth during a column about having more regular pairs event – if the highest ranked player for each country was their only automatic qualifier and they got to pick their partner.

If that was the case, Michael Smith would perhaps bypass both Cross and Aspinall, and instead go for Dave Chisnall or Ian White.

Rivalries

When it comes to the World Cup, I want to see rivalries created and rivalries continue.

Obviously, Australia and Belgium go way back towards the 2012 mark so that will always be maintained as long as Whitlock and Huybrechts are involved. That said, it’s not the same as the Huybrechts brothers against Whitlock and I, which is a good thing for our grey hairs!

I want to see memories rekindled such as Germany and Northern Ireland, who have been involved in some belters together in the past.

I want to see political rivalries as well – like Hong Kong and China in the first round!

I want new rivalries to be created as well. I look at the draw now and I think where is a new rivalry potentially with this? It's not about the country versus country, it's about the characters versus the characters. Myself and Kim clashed and it created a Belgium v Australia dynamic.

So, where can we possibly have another rivalry created in this draw? Poland and South Africa could potentially be a surprise one with Petersen and Ratajski coming up against each other.

Not only could it become a long-running World Cup rivalry for years to come – because neither nation are going anywhere but higher - it could fire up an individual rivalry between the pair of them that spills into future majors now that they are heading towards the top of the sport.

Winners?

Weighing all this up, I really do think it’s going to be a first-time winner and I’m leaning towards Wales, Belgium or Australia.

I don’t see Scotland, Netherlands or England winning it and the way 2020 has gone, we should expect to see something different.

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