World No 98 Ken MacNeil claimed a stunning 4-3 victory over 15-time world champion Phil Taylor in the opening singles.
And former world champion John Part then followed that up by edging out current world champion Adrian Lewis by the same scoreline in the second match of the tie.
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Part raced 3-1 ahead before Lewis hit back with two superb legs to set up the deciding leg, which Part captured in style with a brilliant 140 finish.
Canada had earlier beaten Hungary 5-3 in the first round and that experience stood them in good stead against the rusty English duo.
Lifeline
Taylor and Lewis still have a lifeline as Saturday's doubles is worth two points to the victors and a win for the Englishmen will set up a sudden-death doubles leg for a place in the quarter-finals.
Defending champions Holland are also being given a run for their money by Austria, who beat New Zealand in the afternoon session.
Raymond van Barneveld - who won the inaugural staging of the tournament when partnered with Co Stompe - gave the Dutch a winning start with a 4-3 victory over Dietmar Burger.
But Mensur Suljovic beat Vincent van der Voort by the same scoreline to leave the tie hanging in the balance.
Scotland's Gary Anderson looked to be heading for a shock defeat as he trailed 3-0 to South African Shawn Hogan but he rallied to win 4-3 and his compatriot Peter Wright then comfortably saw off Devon Petersen 4-1 as Scotland took charge of their second-round clash.
Stunned
The South Africans had earlier stunned 2010 semi-finalists Antonio Alcinas and Carlos Rodriguez from Spain.
Australia are also well on course for a place in the quarter-finals after cruising into a 2-0 lead in their second-round clash with Republic of Ireland.
The Irish pair of William O'Connor and Mick McGowan had come from 2-1 down to win four successive legs and beat Malaysia's Lee Choon Peng and Amin Bin Abdul Ghani in the afternoon's opening round.
But they won just one leg between them in the evening as they were put to the sword by a strong Australia team featuring Simon Whitlock and Paul Nicholson.
Whitlock swept aside McGowan 4-1 before Nicholson punished O'Connor for four missed darts in the first leg of their tie, running out a 4-0 winner.
Whitewash
Wales also lead 2-0 with Mark Webster emulating Nicholson with a whitewash of Croatia's Tonci Restovic in the first match of their tie.
But his team-mate and fellow former world champion Richie Burnett certainly didn't have things his own away against Boris Krcmar, though he eventually emerged the victor in a deciding seventh leg.
Croatia had earlier defeated Finland in a last-leg decider.
Elsewhere, the ties between Northern Ireland and Denmark and Belgium and Sweden are locked together at 1-1 after the singles matches.
The Danes beat Gibraltar in the afternoon session to book their place in the second round and Jann Hoffman carried that momentum on with a surprise 4-3 victory over Brendan Dolan in the first of the evening's singles matches.
But Michael Mansell won four straight legs against Per Laursen to record a 4-1 victory and set up a decisive doubles finale on Saturday.
It's the same situation for Belgium and Sweden after World Championship surprise package Kim Huybrechts beat Dennis Nilsson 4-2 only for Magnus Karis to level things up for the Swedes by seeing off Kurt van der Rijck 4-2.
Nilsson and Karis beat Japan's Haruki Muramatsu and Morihiro Hashimoto earlier while South Africa stunned 2010 semi-finalists Spain.
Germany and the USA are also locked together at 1-1 after the Americans beat the Philippines 5-3 in round one earlier in the day.
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