England beat Spain 8-5 in world cup darts in Frankfurt, with Luke Littler and Luke Humphries doing enough to move through to the quarter-finals. The win sends the number one seeds into Sunday’s knockout round against Wales, a pairing that now shapes the next stage of the tournament.
Humphries Leads England Through
Humphries said England’s level was “probably about six out of 10” after the 8-5 victory, and his description fit a match that never fully settled into rhythm. He added: “I’m proud of the way we fought back. It wasn’t the worst performance in the world. It wasn’t our best, but having got through our first game we can relax and play how we know we can tomorrow.”
His final read on the match was even more direct: “We’ve had a good test there, so hopefully that pays dividends tomorrow.” England started fast enough to lead 3-0, but Cristo Reyes and Jose Justicia broke back in the fifth leg and kept Spain in range long enough to make the tie awkward.
Littler Finds The Breakpoint
Littler delivered the decisive cushion when he found a double six for a 6-4 lead. That left England in control of the scoring sequence at the point where Spain needed a clean finish to swing the match, and the pair closed out the remaining legs to finish 8-5.
England entered the tournament as the number one seeds and went straight into the second round, while last year they suffered a shock exit to Germany at this stage. This win avoided a repeat of that result and kept them on course in a format where the margins tighten quickly once the knockout rounds begin.
Wales Awaits On Sunday
Wales arrived there by beating the United States 8-5 through Jonny Clayton and Nick Kenny, setting up the quarter-final against England. Sunday’s session will also feature 15-leg quarter-finals and semi-finals before a 19-leg final, so the next round will force England to raise a level quickly if they want to keep the title path alive.
Other results around the bracket saw Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney beat Belgium 8-7 to send Northern Ireland into a tie with Latvia, Latvia beat France 8-7, Gary Anderson and Cameron Menzies open Scotland’s campaign with an 8-0 win over Norway, William O’Connor and Mickey Mansell beat Poland 8-5 to send Ireland into the quarter-finals, the Netherlands beat the Czech Republic 8-6, and Germany beat Sweden 8-6.
