Van den Berg loses no shot at World Cup semi-finalist: Van Gerwen takes out wrecking ball with psychological warfare | sports

Belgium Netherlands. You know what that means. Always intensely charged duels. Knives have already been sharpened in the semi-finals. “Now Dimitri is on the menu,” said Michael van Gerwen, “I have to slay him. I love all that for Belgian arrows, but enough for now.” Psychological warfare – it represents the Dutchman. His remarks also reached the van den Berg camp. “Michael loves connection. When he roars on stage I turn my back on him. ‘Dancing Demi’ replied,” he added delicately. “I’ll let the arrows do the talking.”

Van den Berg raced towards the podium with evident confidence. First, a kiss to the fiancée, Effie, and her daughter, Awna, and the arms of everyone in his entourage. Then it’s show time. With “big fish” – max 170 throws – set the room on fire. However, getting Van Gerwen out of his head wasn’t an option. The Dutchman managed to break through the break and take the first set. That was a missed opportunity for Van den Berg, who immediately took some heavy blows.

Please read along. Van Gerwen quickly went 0-2 up and then started his favourite. He crawled to Van den Bergh’s back and sought confrontation. Something our compatriot cannot appreciate. Van Gerwen replied—”Good job,” he seemed to say wryly—and waited a long time before throwing. The frustrations got the upper hand and Van Gerwen got into the head of Van den Berg. Disastrous for his level of play. He left a lot, while Van Gerwen also emptied his bag with a checkout of 170. In no time the score was 0-4. Then the game is over. Van Gerwen roared, and Van den Berg bowed his head. Demi’s dance is over. It eventually became 0-6 – painful.

A losing semi-final match – especially the way it’s done – is going to be tough. But Van den Berg can look back on his successful world championships. With a historic achievement as a result, as never before had a Belgian reached the semi-finals. And he received a nice “consolation prize” of 113 thousand euros. Then van Gerwen appeared to be on the way to his fourth world title. Or do you think Michael Smith can outsmart Mighty Mike?

It was a huge disappointment, Dimitri van den Bergh said after his defeat in Alli Pale. Our compatriot proved to be a big loser. “I didn’t expect it to turn out like this at all. Michael was throwing very well. I keep pumping myself, but he knocks out easily on 12 or less. He kept me under constant pressure. I did my best. I wanted more, yours and mine, but this did not happen “.

“The World Cup has seen a comeback, and that’s why I never give up. Michael gives me a dry 6-0 game here. I gave my whole heart, but now I’m so disappointed. That incident? Let me say this: I’m not going to get into it. I tried to be a professional.” And I keep fighting. I felt good about myself and I wanted to show it, but when I had to, it just didn’t come out. That’s a big lesson.”