Team Brazil World Cup Day 2

Posted: 03.06.17 in Team Brazil category

The morning after the night before!

 Day 2 of the PDC World Cup was memorable to say the least! History was made as Brazil made their debut in the World Cup and it was a glorious entry to big time darts. We had been saying that it was just an honour to be playing and the result was irrelevant! We all believed though that we had a good chance and our goal was to reach round 2 and then assess from there! More of that later.

The day started with a really good practice session. A friend of Diogo’s Paul Butler came to help with a practice session idea we had come up with. It was an excellent session and a good start to our preparation.

On that note it was good to hear that Bob Anderson had been drafted in to assist Team China! However, and I am sure Bob will agree, he needed way more time to try to make an intervention! It is great that darts is finally waking up to the benefits of coaching and sports science but coaches are not miracle workers! As in every sport played on this planet miracles take longer! We have been working with Diogo for 2 1/2 years and through his hard work and skill it is paying off!

At around 4pm we went up to the venue to acclimatise to it. There was some “house-keeping” to be done. The PDC needed some photos and Diogo and Alexandre to introduce themselves in Portuguese. There was a lovely practice area and at around 6pm the Boys From Brazil were given their first taste of the big stage!

Then it was match time! Mario, Diogo’s Father was sat next to me along with our practice friend Paul! We got off to a great start wrestling back the advantage lost by not winning the bull and breaking Team Switzerland in the first leg. Team Switzerland looked like they were on the ropes

as early as the end of the 2^nd leg. But, they revived and we went to a last leg shoot out! All our nerves were shot by then although fortunately Team Brazil didn’t have the same problem!

Then the moment came! Alexandre needed 72 and he buried it! Cue celebrations from the stage and from us in the crowd! A friend of mine messaged me about the photo my daughter had kindly taken on the TV at home – “You look like you’re on a ride at Thorpe Park J” Well, it felt like I had been!

Team Switzerland bought Team Brazil a drink in a lovely bit of sportsmanship! We came back to the Hotel for a very late dinner and to answer the hundreds of messages that were pouring in to all our phones! I got some lovely messages from people who have witnessed the rise of the DPC and they mean the world to me. Thanks!

We are back again to play Team Germany today! We estimate we will be on stage around 8pm UK time. We have a plan, we are ready for the crowd and we will see what happens!

Thanks for the support!