Darts commentator and pundit Paul Nicholson picks out five potential dark horses for the 2024 BetVictor World Cup of Darts, ahead of this year's showpiece in Frankfurt...
Croatia
When you look at Croatia’s group, they’re up against Malaysia and Canada, who have a new partnership of David Cameron and Matt Campbell.
I know that Cameron is in decent form and Campbell made a ProTour final recently, but I’m not sure how they will gel together.
The fact remains that with Grbavac and Krcmar – two players that have been playing well of late – I see them gelling pretty well after playing together last year.
Obviously Romeo has been qualifying for the European Tour a lot through the East Europe Qualifiers, and Boris has produced some good performances over recent months in different tournaments.
I see them winning Group I and winning both of their matches against Malaysia and Canada.
I also think there’s a possibility for them to be a dark horse and maybe go one or two rounds further, in the same way that France did last year.
Sweden
I look at Sweden’s Group K dynamic with Spain and Gibraltar.
Gibraltar have experience in that group, but do they have the talent level to take out the Swedes with their form at the minute? I don’t see that.
Ever since Spain had strength at the start of the World Cup of Darts 14 years ago, they haven’t really lived up to the expectation of the likes of Carlos Rodriguez, Toni Alcinas and Cristo Reyes.
I just get the feeling that maybe Spain need a little bit more time to find their next big pairing, so at this point in time, Sweden are the biggest threat in that area of the draw.
Jeffrey de Graaf has been impressive over the last six weeks, and Oskar Lukasiak has won an event on the Challenge Tour this year.
I can see those guys gelling pretty well, and if the Swedes can get some passion and a bit of a following in Germany, I can see them doing real damage, and people should be very wary of them.
New Zealand
You have to dig a little deeper to find out just how dangerous these guys could be.
When I’m talking about New Zealand, they’re in Group C with Finland, who I don’t see challenging in this group, with all due respect to Harju and Kantele.
Germany, with Martin Schindler and Gabriel Clemens are expected to do well, but I see them being under pressure on home soil once again, and the team that could exploit that are New Zealand.
Haupai Puha won his PDC Tour Card in January and has been gaining valuable experience over the last six months. He has a familiar partner in Ben Robb, who is always swimming in confidence.
He will be doing just that at the moment after winning the New Zealand Open last weekend and becoming number one in the WDF, so his confidence has probably never been higher.
Looking at the way that those guys get on, it couldn’t be any better, so I think New Zealand have a realistic chance of pulling off what Austria did in Euro 2024 recently, which is topping their group against the odds.
Philippines
This team may not be a dark horse to a lot of people, but I think if you look at a lot of the group dynamics, there’s one group that really stands out.
There’s been a lot of talk about Belgium over the last few months and whether Mike De Decker would play instead of Kim Huybrechts because of Kim’s injury.
If you look at the other two teams in Group A with Singapore and Philippines, it’s easy to pick out Paul Lim and Harith Lim, but I’m going to go for the Philippines.
Christian Perez has been very solid on the ProTour this year, and now he’s got a guy called Alexis Toylo next to him, who has enjoyed an incredible year on the Asian Tour.
With Toylo, we may be unearthing one of the next big Asian players.
I see these two as potentially a huge threat in this tournament, although it wouldn’t be a surprise if they don’t progress to the knockout stage because their group is so strong.
Maybe this could be the story in the group phase, and the Philippines for me are a huge threat to Singapore, Belgium and beyond if they can get some good momentum.
Hong Kong
In Group D with Australia and Japan, Hong Kong could provide a bit of a shock.
Man Lok Leung returns to the big stage for the first time since the World Championship, where he made big headlines with victory against Gian van Veen.
This might be the right vehicle for him to kick on again and with his partner, I just get the feeling there’s going to be a lot of emphasis on Japan and Australia, and Hong Kong could be a surprise.
With Leung as captain, alongside Lok Yin Lee, I get the feeling they are a potential story.
The PDC Asian Tour has done an amazing job over the last two to three years, and I think as they’re [Hong Kong] starting to get stronger, there are going to be other nations that start saying: ‘What about us?’
The Asian Tour is not just about Japan and the Philippines.
There are other nations emerging, and Hong Kong – who have had good World Cups in the past – will expect to have two players flying their flag very boldly again, so watch out for them.