Following last night's stunning upset which saw Scotland eliminated by Singapore, the bottom half of the World Cup of Darts draw is now odds on to produce this year's winner, with 13 World titles represented across the 16 teams.
England's Adrian Lewis and Dave Chisnall are not known for their consistency and concentration, and their first WC together sees them given a very easy task (thanks, Uncle Barry) of starting a quest for a fifth title against Euro Tour outlet Gibraltar, who have Dyson Parody and Dylan Duo in their ranks once again.
As Jelle Klaasen has a genuine reason to miss this year with his recent wrist surgery, it is Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld yet again for the Netherlands, who start their campaign against the Czech Republic. Like Snackpot & Chizzy, Autism & Diabetes should not have too much trouble with the central Europeans.
The other two seeds in action are "Austria", represented by a Serb (Mensur Suljovic) and a Filipino (Rwoby-John Rodriguez), playing a sadly Wenge Xie-less China and the most intriguing tie of the evening with Northern Ireland against host nation Germany. Annoyingly, there is no second emerging Ulster talent to replace Brendan fucking Dolan as their #2, so it's him and Daryl Gurney once more; Germany on the other hand no longer have middle-aged cloggers as former World Youth Champ Max Hopp pairs with emerging youngster Martin Schindler.
In the unseeded matchups, John Part's Canada play Hungary, dancing Devon Petersen's South Africa take on David Lynch impersonator Magnus Caris's Sweden, Darin Young and Larry Butler will probably continue to be hopeless for the USA as they face Italy, and a battle of the debutants with Brazil versus Switzerland, who only got in at the last minute after Latvia withdrew.
All first round matches are pairs with the best of 9 legs (first to 5) going through.
Coverage starts from 7:00pm UK time on Sky Sports 1.
>Tonight’s matches - Round One (best of 9 legs doubles) United States of America v Italy Hungary v Canada Austria (7) v China South Africa v Sweden Brazil v Switzerland Northern Ireland (6) v Germany England (2) v Gibraltar Netherlands (3) v Czech Republic
