The seeded teams all began their campaigns in the second group matches of the tournament. The afternoon winners took to the stage again for their second and final match in the group phase and five places in the next round have already been confirmed.
Group A: England began their defence of the title by already placing themselves into the second round. They faced Japan and the Japanese could have got off to a great start. But they missed three darts at the double, granting England the opening leg. From there, England never looked back as Haruki Muramatsu and Sho Katsumi were nowhere near the levels of performance they produced earlier. England easily cruised to a 5-0 victory. Table:
1. (Q) England 2 +5
2. Japan 2 -4
3. Austria 0 -1
Group B: The Republic of Ireland are also through to the second after whitewashing Denmark. The first three legs saw William O'Connor and Connie Finnan finish flawlessly. The other two legs were also easily won as Per Laursen and Jann Hoffmann failed to turn up. Table:
1. (Q) Republic of Ireland 2 +5
2. Denmark 2 -4
3. South Africa 0 -1
Group C: Scotland almost threw it away against Canada, but managed to hold to win their opening game of the tournament. Robert Thornton and Gary Anderson started majestically and quickly raced into a 4-0 lead. John Part managed to break the 0 before Thornton missed three darts to give Scotland a 5-1 lead. Jeff Smith won a second leg on the bounce to make it 4-3 before Thornton finally held his nerve to win the match. Table:
1. Scotland 2 +2
2. Canada 2 -1
3. Sweden 0 -1
Group D: Wales began their tournament with a comfortable victory over Wales. Mark Webster and Richie Burnett took a leg each to give Wales a 2-0 lead. Wales then missed five darts to go 3-1 in front and Antonio Alcinas managed to level the scores. But Wales regained their two leg advantage before Spain missed five darts to allow Burnett to win the match 5-2. Table:
1. Wales 2 +3
2. Spain 2 -1
3. Italy 0 -2
Group E: Poland are also definitely through on at least difference despite losing to the Netherlands. Raymond Van Barneveld started the match off with an impressive 126-checkout. Two doubles from Michael Van Gerwen made it 3-1 despite the Dutch not being at their best. A superb 121-checkout from Krzystof Ratajski ensured Poland's progression as it made the score 4-3 before Van Gerwen gave the Netherlands a rather unconvincing victory. Table:
1. Netherlands 2 +2
2. Poland 2 +1
3. Gibraltar 0 -3
Group F: The hosts also managed to pull off an opening win, with a little help from the partisan crowd. Jarkko Komula and Jani Haavisto were just as good as they were against USA earlier but would miss three darts at the double to allow Jyhan Artut to level the score at 2-2 with his second winning double. Artut then gave Germany the lead with an impressive 121-checkout but Komula responded with a 98-finish to keep the sides level. Finland had the edge in the seventh leg but they would miss five darts at the double. Komula missed three as the crowd began to get on his back and this angered the Finn as Germany stole the leg to go within one of victory. Finland couldn't recover from that and Artut posted his fifth winning double to win the match 5-3. Table:
1. Germany 2 +2
2. Finland 2 -1
3. USA 0 -1
Group G: Australia are also through to the second round after a very convincing victory over Croatia. Tonci Restovic put Croatia ahead after Robert Marijanovic again looked very good. But Croatia would never get another look in as Simon Whitlock and Paul Nicholson took the next five legs to easily win 5-1. Table:
1. Australia 2 +4
2. Croatia 2 -2
3. New Zealand 0 -2
Group H: Belgium have made it through despite losing to Northern Ireland. After their impressive whitewash against Hungary, the Belgians only needed one leg to progress. Mickey Mansell had a great showing and took the second leg to give Northern Ireland a 2-0 lead. Ronny Huybrechts secured that leg before Kim Huybrechts found a great 136-checkout to level the scores. The Huybrechts brothers weren't as impressive as against Hungary and they missed two darts to take a 3-2 lead. This may have decided the game as Northern Ireland took the match 5-2 after Belgium missed four darts to win the seventh leg. Table:
1. Northern Ireland 2 +3
2. Belgium 2 +2
3. Hungary 0 -5
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