England’s highest-ranked pairing were sensationally dumped out of the World Cup of Darts in arguably the biggest shock in tournament history.
Spain’s unlikely win over England in 2010 was a stark reminder that no player is unbeatable in the World Cup format.
The great Phil Taylor was involved in one of the biggest shocks in World Cup historyPhil Taylor and James Wade were England’s representatives and went into the tournament as hot favourites to win.
The pair were ranked as world number one and two with little reason to bet against them defeating their opening opponents.
However, the accomplished pair incredibly came unstuck at the first hurdle and were knocked out by the Spanish pairing of Carlos Rodriguez and Toni Alcinas.
Taylor and Wade appeared to be on course to win when ‘The Power’ hit a single 20 and two tops to hand England a 4-2 advantage.
But the Spanish pairing had other ideas as Alcinas finished 83 on the bullseye and Rodriguez finished a 125 to level the match.
Alcinas then punished missed doubles from England to miraculously nudge the Spaniards in front. But Taylor hit back with a 13-darter to take the match into a deciding leg.
However it was Spain who had the final say thanks to back-to-back 180s to dump the favourites out of the tournament.
The defeat serves as a warning to England ahead of this year’s tournament which gets underway on Thursday in Frankfurt, Germany.
Reigning champions England are chasing a record-extending sixth World Cup while former winners Wales, Scotland, Netherlands and Australia will also be in the running.
And in similar fashion to 2010, England will enter the tournament boasting the top two players in the world in Luke Humphries and Luke Littler.
James Wade was left in shock after crashing out of the 2010 event Unfancied Carlos Rodriguez and Toni Alcinas could not hide their delight at the winHumphries, who got the better of Littler in last month’s Premier League of Darts final, lifted last year’s World Cup alongside Michael Smith, whilst this year’s edition will be new territory for Littler.
Should the pair fail to get over the line then Wales will likely be amongst the contenders to lift the title.
Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton will represent their nation in Germany having won it twice and hope to add another triumph to their roll of honour.
Meanwhile, Scotland will put their faith in the pairing of Gary Anderson and Peter Wright.
Whilst Wright would be the first to admit he isn’t playing at the top of his game, the opportunity to represent his country alongside Anderson may just bring the best out of him.
This year’s tournament will see 40 countries battle at the Eissporthalle, with group and knockout stages featuring doubles matches throughout the pairs event.
GettyLuke Humphries and Luke Littler will fly the flag for England at this weekend’s World Cup of Darts[/caption]The top four ranked nations, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, will enter the tournament in Saturday’s second round.
The remaining 36 nations have been split into 12 groups of three for the round-robin phase – including 12 seeded nations – from which each group winner will progress to the last 16.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will all take place on Sunday.
“We’re really looking forward to it,” said Humphries ahead of this weekend’s event.
“I know there’s going to be a lot of pressure on us, but we’re really good friends, and if we connect, then we stand a great chance of winning this title.
“We believe we can win it, and if we perform at our best, it’s going to take something special to stop us!”
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