The second half of darting drama in Rotterdam is unfortunately a bit of an anti-climax following last night's closing match which saw the oldest player in the final demonstrate exactly why he's retiring at the end of the year and renders Judgement Night irrelevant. The final contender's World Matchplay semi-finalist and autism curing expert Jeffrey de Zwaan, who faces charisma vacuum Rob Cross in a repeat of their remarkable last 64 game at the Worlds in the evening's middle match. The Black Cobra averaged 106 yet somehow lost to Voltage at Ally Pally, but has not had the same level of success he had this time last year. Cross will have to recover following his remarkable implosion from 5-1 ahead last night.
Opening the evening are two men who achieved significant victories on Wednesday in Ulster ultrasulk Daryl Gurney and everyone's favourite unorthodox Serbo-Austrian Mensur Suljovic. Superchin delivered the fatal blow to Raymond van Barneveld's PLD run whereas the Gentle was on the other end of Cross's collapse; both averaged well below 90 though.
The league's two irritants then collide with midlife crisis clown Peter Wright against rugger roidlet Gerwyn Price. Snakebite jobbed his way to a 7-1 annihilation by the reigning champ, while the Iceman went down in the last leg to this year's Worlds runner-up.
Following the last contender game, the possible final TV appearance of Raymond van Barneveld could see him get raped by his protege Michael van Gerwen. Barney was absolutely pathetic against Gurney and with MVG somewhat resembling his best against Wright, this could be 7-0 to Mighty Mike.
The last regular phase match is a repeat of November's World Series of Darts Final with bipolar disorder's James Wade facing beardy Michael Smith. The Machine had draughtgate II to thank for salvaging a draw against Dimitri Van den Bergh, whereas Bully Boy saved himself with victory over Price.
Coverage starts at 7:00pm GMT on Sky Sports Action and at 7:30pm CET on RTL7.
>Tonight's fixtures (7:00pm start, all matches best of 12 legs; contender match in greentext) Daryl "Sweet C4-line" Gurney v Mensur "DIE MEISTER, DIE BESTEN" Suljovic Snakeshite v Gerwyn "Gurning" Price >Rob "BAuLDtism" Cross v Jeffrey "Cobra Commander" de Zwaan Barney v MvGOAuTism James "The Meds Are Back In Town" Wade v Michael "Snackpot 2.0" Smith
tl;dr: >not allowed to say anything about the wind >was thinking about retiring direct after his round 1 exit at the WC >his gut told him to stop but he didn't listen because he wanted to play in Ahoy >still wants to go the WC
Think uncle Bazza must have been expecting a towling last night not putting Barney v MVG on very last. Do wonder if the dutch faithful will hang around for Meds v Smith as well
Juan Sanchez
It'll be like what happened in Dortmund for the Euros after Hopp lost.
>Gurney in relegation trouble last week >Joint top tonight
How do we fix the premier league lads
Cooper Collins
Rotterdam is a double week. I forgot to put "/180/" in the subject.
Grayson Lee
Darts is popular here not sure why we never have good players, must be some shitty structures around competitive play, my local darts league has 30 teams of 10 players in an area covering around 5000 people
Isaac Walker
They're gonna expand it to 16 players next year, two separate tours of eight players each with the two top from each going forward to the semis. Screencap this.
Landon Reed
It was on last night? It was wednesday... premier league is thursday nights...
Is there anywhere I can buy an official Clownman polo? Or is it only Autism ones that are available?
Jackson Barnes
>being a full kit wanker
Julian Stewart
Wait until he falls out of the world top 10 in December so you can get them cheaper.
Brody Carter
You remember how last year Exeter got snowed out so they put a double night on in Rotterdam to compensate for the lost week? They repeated the double night this year.
Got to rate his bottle in hitting that double a moment ago
Carson Carter
Last 2 legs showed incredible bottle.
Samuel Cox
Yeah i do. I hope that the fact he smashed Taylor to win a worlds, grins like he's just ripped you off on every double attempt and has been HYPED by the sky machine doesnt get lost in transaltion and people dont realise he's of Chizzy intelligence and can laugh of fradulent matches like last night and not seem to care and then towel you with a 104 average the next game. I hope with the prize money he's defending he can stick around, he's quite watchable on his A game and can beat anyone. This is funny now
>people dont realise he's of Chizzy intelligence His interviews make people realise.
Brandon James
>Geoffrey the swan
Colton Powell
jeffrey's swan song
Aiden Carter
Would lol if he somehow nicks this as well
Sebastian Miller
I find him annoying and was glad he didn't defend his world title but the more good players around the better. I don't understand his psychology though because his form follows no logic. He's not like Chizzy who is brilliant when the pressure is off and predictably folds whenever it's on, or MVG who's fantastic under pressure but (sometimes) loses concentration when it's too easy - he seems wildly inconsistent in both pressure and non-pressure situations
Asher Rodriguez
>he seems wildly inconsistent in both pressure and non-pressure situations Last night probably the perfect example of it.
>First 6 legs: absolute dominance >Next 6 legs: jobbed like a bitch
When he plays badly he's fucking horrible to watch, i know thats the case with quite a few of players but the fact he can play like the ghost of Taylor with a casual style and pump jobbers like this is quite amusing at times. Just wish he did it more against Gando/MVG rather than Clown man and Smith
Henry Williams
> I don't understand his psychology though because his form follows no logic Just a regular streaky shooter. I know this from my own game in several sports. Either you hit everything with ease, or you couldn't hit fat singles even if your life depended on it. Snackpot is another perfect example for this, while Taylor was the opposite: He was a merciless worker who was constantly on a high level, without many ups and downs.
One time when MVG was giving an interview a random American on here said: "If Giants were real, Van Gerwens voice is exactly what they would sound like"
And now I can't stop thinking about it every time he speaks
Probably for the best, would've been sad to see him get pummeled on the floor and not qualify for any big events
Landon Cook
Won't de JdZ in any case as Wattimena is currently the second-highest ranked Dutch player. Would be fair IMO to give the defending champs an opportunity to defend their titles.
David Williams
Good on him. Best moment for it, really (apart from being nearly whitewashed). He was never going to regain enough to form to go out on a win and would just keep digging himself a deeper hole
Brody Parker
If Aart007 is the source it has to be true.
Alexander Smith
It's obviously MI5 disinfo. Wake up sheeple
Justin Flores
Fuck off, Paul.
Thomas Ward
What was the Wade vs Cross result again?
Noah Gomez
Has Barneys marriage fell apart this last month as well? Not really the best time to get caught shagging away. Probably as big a factor as any i reckon
Kayden Garcia
>blubber
Aaron Taylor
>Wade v Cross That was Week 2. Wade won.
>Smiff Completely fell away after going 3-1 up.
Colton Ward
Actually, Cross won. I am an idiot.
Evan Torres
Wade is the best player in the world right now
Blake Stewart
>no draws huh
Tyler Collins
He said the marriage was basically over a while ago but they kept it quiet.
If that's the truth? idk
Tyler Rodriguez
BARNEY QUITTING IMMINENT
Dylan Reed
Has RVB had a hair transplant? His hairline looks solider, kind of like Rooney's whenever he gets a fresh one
Nicholas Reyes
Somebody mentioned that before
Jaxon Evans
Such a drama queen
Bentley Reed
>Mardle: he's being reactionary! FFS
Jordan Adams
Wonder how long ago he decided this was going to be his last night
Julian Green
absolute shitter, making it all about himself
Lucas Johnson
i'm tired arjan
Adrian Phillips
He's deserved it.
Christian Ross
RIP Barney, you haven't anything of any note in darts for four years.
Wyatt Foster
By announcing retirement in a backroom interview instead of on stage?
Brayden Gomez
So if that is truly the end of Barney, then what a shit way to go out. We know how dramatic he can be though, so he'll probably U-Turn on the decision tonight.
Another decent night regardless of that shit at the end. See you next Thursday in Belfast.
According to his manager Barney will continue to play. Barney was emotional after yesterday's loss and everyone knows how he is in that state. Tuesday he will talk with his manager on how to continue this season.
