This is the most intriguing quarter and toughest to call.
Belgium should come through their mini section to reach the quarters while their opponents should be either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland.
The Northern Irish duo of Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan don’t have it easy with Hong Kong while the Republic pair of William O’Connor and Steve Lennon have far better chemistry than Portugal’s Jose de Sousa and Jose Marques.
I really want to see this all-Irish showdown – it has pay-per-view written all over it.
Overall, I’m going for Northern Ireland to come through the quarter because both Gurney and Dolan are simmering right now. It’s a spicy quarter to get their juices going and they’ll be ready for Belgium in what could be the match of the tournament.
Just imagine Gurney and Huybrechts going up against each other – they’ll make Dolan v Van den Bergh look extremely cool and collected. That said, it’s a lottery as to what the specific singles match ups will be – like Ryder Cup singles.
Nobody is talking about Austria due to Mensur Suljovic not having a busy season. He’s had shoulder tendonitis but he played pretty well at the Hungarian Darts Trophy without success and is also wearing glasses for the first time.
He’s got Rowby-John Rodriguez as his partner and he plays better with him than he does with Zoran Lerchbacher so that will make him feel good.
Wales are the favourites to defend their title and you can’t argue with that due to the fact they have the world champion and Premier League winner in their team.
I have few doubts they’ll end up in yet another battle with Australia in the quarter-finals and I’ve lost count the number of times these nations have met each other down the years!
The Welsh have never been as strong as they are now with Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton and the only reason they aren’t top seeds is because the Ferret’s ranking of 13 lies to us considering he’s won four titles this season.
It couldn’t be more emotional for Australia coming so soon after the tragic passing of Kyle Anderson and my heart really wants them to win the whole tournament for him.
On top of that, I’d love them to win it for Simon Whitlock. I tried to do that and for the DPA – rather than myself – and came up just short.
Simon is one of the very few ever-present players left in this World Cup and in Damon Heta he has a partner with at least some experience having made his debut last year.
If they get through Wales, they can win it, but my head says they’ll lose in the quarters.
Netherlands are my not so obvious pick to come through this quarter.
Michael van Gerwen has a lot of frustration to get out after his defeat to Brendan Dolan at the weekend and he’ll be desperate to get his hands on a trophy he’s lifted three times before.
In Dirk van Duijvenbode he has a partner who will fire him up to another level again and they will have fans there to put them into a comfort zone. Dirk won’t be fazed about it being his debut – he just gets up and plays like we saw when making his other major bows last year.
Their chemistry will be solid and should attain a better level than Scotland if they meet in the quarter-finals.
However, what kind of celebrations in Huntly will there be if John Henderson wins the World Cup for Scotland alongside Peter Wright?!
That said, they could come unstuck earlier than the quarters when they face the winners of what could be one of the ties of the first round: Czech Republic v Poland.
The Poles are potentially the most dangerous unseeded nation apart from Canada and I’d probably be tipping them to go further were it not for this tough opener.
Adam Gawlas has never felt as confident as he does now following his brilliant run in Hungary whilst Karel Sedlacek is going to love this challenge.
If the Krzysztofs can come through the Czechs then it could be them shaping up for the Dutch rather than the Scots.
Of my predicted semi-finals, I’m going for Northern Ireland to overcome Canada and the Netherlands to edge Wales.
If that final could be achieved it would take me back to the time they had an incredible semi-final in the 2014 edition when Mickey Mansell and Brendan Dolan took MVG and Barney all the way to the deciding doubles rubber. Dolan pipped MVG 4-3 in their singles clash that day and he’s in a great place right now too having beaten him at the weekend’s Hungarian Darts Trophy.
Dolan was the MVP of the entire World Cup and if Northern Ireland can go as far as I think they will, then he’d probably get that moniker again.
Gurney is also starting to play well again having pushed MVG hard in Hungary with a 100 average and as a team, they are as ripe as can be. This is the best chance they’ve ever had of winning it.
Seedings in brackets
Scroll down for schedule, results & team line-ups
* Greece replaced Croatia due to Boris Krcmar's withdrawal through illness.
Thursday September 9
Evening Session
(7pm local time, 6pm BST)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
First Round (Best of nine legs - doubles)
Friday September 10
Evening Session (7pm local time, 6pm BST)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
First Round (Best of nine legs - doubles)
Saturday September 10
Afternoon Session (2pm local time, 1pm BST)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Second Round (Best of 3 points)
(Two best-of-7-leg singles matches & one best of 7 doubles decider if required)
Evening Session (7pm local time, 6pm BST)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Second Round (Best of 3 points)
(2x best-of-7-leg singles matches & one best-of-7-leg doubles decider if required)
Sunday September 11
Afternoon Session (1pm local time, 12pm BST)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Quarter-Finals (Best of 3 points)
(2x best-of-7-leg singles matches & one best-of-7-leg doubles decider if required)
Evening Session (7pm local time, 6pm BST)
Semi-Finals (Best of 3 points)
(2x best-of-7-leg singles matches & one best-of-7-leg doubles decider if required)
Final (Best of 5 points)
(2x best-of-7-leg singles matches, one best-of-7-leg doubles, then reverse singles)
With nations represented by two-player teams, competitors are initially selected based on the PDC Order of Merit, where two or more players are ranked. If players do not wish to enter, then their fellow countrymen next on the Order of Merit will get called up.
With seedings based on the cumulative PDC ranking of the two players, England are the top seeds going into this year's event.
Seeded Teams (provisional):
Unseeded:
* Greece replaced Croatia due to Boris Krcmar's withdrawal through illness.
Best of nine legs - doubles. All players take part in every leg of the match, in an alternative visit format.
These matches will be played as two best of seven leg 501 singles matches, with both nations nominating the order in which their players play.
In the event of both nations winning one singles match apiece, a best of seven leg 501 doubles match will be played to decide the tie.
This will be two best-of-seven-legs 501 singles matches, with both nations nominating the order in which their players play the first two matches, followed by a best of seven leg 501 doubles match and then reverse Singles matches. The first team to win three games is declared the winner.