Jose de Sousa proved old habits die hard as his latest miscount came in the form of bust 181 on Saturday night.
The Portuguese star has developed a reputation for his poor counting over the years, but it reached new heights as he messed up 181. It proved to be tremendously embarrassing for the 48-year-old, who made the error during Portugal’s match against Scotland in the World Cup of Darts.
Their second round clash went to a doubles game after John Henderson had defeated Vitor Jeronimo and De Sousa had surprisingly topped Peter Wright in the singles match 4-3. It was a high-quality contest and served to prolong the World Cup drama.
Portugal had then worked their way down to 181 in the first leg of the doubles match when the miscount king made another error.
After scoring 120 with his first two darts to place himself on 61, De Sousa should have hit the 25 or triple 15 to leave Jeronimo on a double to claim the win. However, the 48-year-old appeared to completely lose track of his score as he filled the T20 bed to score 180 - which left him bust.
De Sousa appeared to clench his first in celebration before stunned match referee Kirk Bevans yelled out 'no score' as the competitor realised his mistake. Dubbed The Special One, he raised a finger to his eye as he apologised to teammate Jeronimo, who appeared to see the funny side of his friend’s error.
Sky Sports commentator Mark Webster admitted he was ‘speechless’ as the Portuguese player made another counting error. De Sousa's horrible miscount proved costly for Portugal as they lost the first-leg of the match to World Cup holders Henderson and Wright.
Could you believe that Jose de Sousa suffered yet another miscount? Let us know in the comments section.
The reigning champions wrapped up a 4-0 win in the doubles contest to book their place in the quarter-final. For the first time in World Cup history, the quarter-final line-up features all eight seeded nations, setting up a blockbuster finale at the Eissporthalle on Sunday.
Elsewhere, English Premier League duo Michael Smith and James Wade had to battle to overcome Latvian pair Madars Razma and Hauris Gleglu. After trading blows in the singles, Smith and Wade produced a fine performance under pressure to win 4-2 with a 96 average.
Wales' Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton survived a monster upset by defeating Austria's Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez in a dramatic deciding-leg shootout. The advantage of throw proved pivotal for Wales in the Doubles, and following six straight holds, Clayton backed up successive two-treble visits by pinning double six to dump out last year’s runners-up.
The £350,000 tournament concludes on Sunday, with the afternoon session's quarter-finals followed by the semi-finals and final in the evening session at the Eissporthalle.
