Sweden scare for Scotland, seal last semi-final spot at World Cup of Darts

Scotland pairing Gary Anderson and Peter Wright are through to the semi-finals of the 2024 World Cup of Darts where they will face off against England pairing of Michael Smith and Luke Humphries.

They survived a scare against Sweden pairing Oskar Lukasiak and Jeffrey de Graaf who alongside Italy have been a leading story of this weekend in terms of surprise packages. But they fell to the former champions in the Quarter-Finals.

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It was a poor start for Scotland and they were suitably punished as Jeffrey de Graaf broke throw and gave them an early 2-1 lead. But Scotland hit back as Sweden's lead grew. Wright and Anderson hit back-to-back 180's as they reduced the arrears to 4-3 down with a superb 11-darter.

But just as Scotland found a footing, Sweden aimed to slam the door firmly shut. 89 was missed by Wright, Lukasiak missed 120 but Anderson couldn't hit five and De Graaf who led from the front during the tie went 5-3 up.

Scotland reduced it to 5-4 but went towards the brink at 6-4 down with a 56 checkout for Sweden. An 82 and double four from Scotland hoisted the tie back in their favour though as they levelled up at 6-6. But it still went all the way with a 117 checkout from the Scottish pair. But in the decider Sweden couldn't hit 126 and Scotland saved their skin with a 45 checkout.

Going into the semi-finals, they will need to be better as England sent out a statement earlier on when they took apart Northern Ireland pairing Brendan Dolan and Josh Rock 8-4 with a 98 checkout and a masterclass of finishing. The other semi-final will see Austrian pairing Rowby-John Rodriguez and Mensur Suljovic face off against Kim Huybrechts and Dimitri van den Bergh with the latter similar to Scotland only just getting through against an unheralded pair in Italy. Four of the best teams remain, but who claims the title? It will be played out this evening.