World Cup Preview
With Fantasy Premier League taking a break over the International Break, we’ve decided to look ahead with this World Cup Fantasy Football Preview.
It’s now less than 3 months until the FIFA 2018 World Cup in Russia and here at Fantasy Football Community, we will be embracing all things World Cup Fantasy, including tournament and daily fantasy competitions. While there’s plenty of speculation and a long time ago, it’s never too soon to get ahead
Groups
The table below shows the current FIFA rankings (correct March 2018) and the total FIFA ranking across the various World Cup groups.
The range of talent across the groups is quite striking, with Group A looking like the most open group and a nice draw for the hosts, Russia.
Meanwhile, Group C looks like the “group of death”, with Group E not far behind them. It could be a tricky start to the tournament for some.
Hardest Groups
C – France have one of the easiest openers, against Australia but the schedule toughens.
Average Groups
B – Portugal and Spain get off to a tough start facing each other, but then their relative schedules ease with games against Iran and Morocco.
D – Argentina look the clear favourites to progress here, but Iceland and Croatia will have a close battle for the second qualification spot.
E – Brazil and Switzerland face each other in a hard opening game, but their subsequent fixtures are much more favourable.
Easiest Groups
F – Germany have the kindest opening schedule with one of the largest gaps in FIFA ranking to their next placed opponent.
G – Belgium also have a reasonable schedule against lower ranked teams, including a kind opening game against Panama.
H – Poland look favourites to progress from this one with easy fixtures sandwiched between a more difficult game against Columbia.
Mo Salah 66/1 for World Cup Golden Boot ?
32 goals in 56 games for Egypt, who are in the same group as Uruguay, Russia and Saudi Arabia and have a decent chance to qualify.
Oh, and 36 goals for @LFC this season… pic.twitter.com/NTZNSRAYzj
— Mark Donaldson (@DonaldsonESPN) March 17, 2018
Unknown Quantity
A – It’s much more difficult to predict the outcomes of games against lower ranked teams. Expect Uruguay and Egpyt to come out on top, but the hosts won’t be a pushover.
Teams
Taking into account the relative World Cup groupings and standard of the opposition, it looks essential to have decent cover in fantasy squads from Germany, Belgium and Poland.
Timo Werner is destined to be one of the best in the world. It's easy to understand why Real Madrid, Liverpool and Manchester United are interested in him.https://t.co/yfIISJ9KI9 pic.twitter.com/IFtoJYdAtV
— Football Whispers (@FB_WHISPERS) March 18, 2018
Germany Targets – Timo Werner, Leroy Sane, Mats Hummels
Belgium Targets – Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Thomas Meuinier
Poland Targets – Robert Lewondoski, Arkadiusz Milik, Łukasz Piszczek
Strategy
World Cup Fantasy games have yet to be released, but we could expect substitutions and captaincy changes throughout a match day, plus an early Double Gameweek for Russia and Egypt (look out for Mo Salah!)
There’s a lot of unpredictability at the start of a big tournament, but having a player from a big team in your squad for a relatively easy opening fixture is recommended: plus options for the captains armband on a daily basis.
Antoine Griezmann in 2018:
La Liga – 12 Apps / 12 ⚽️
Europa League – 3 Apps / 2 ⚽️
Copa del Rey – 3 Apps / 2 ⚽️The Frenchman seems keen to impress this year…
Full player profile — https://t.co/1PeFygtsrW pic.twitter.com/IdfZgae0VC
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 21, 2018
Matchday 1
France v Australia – Antoinne Greizmann
Croatia v Nigeria – Mario Mandzukic
Germany v Mexico – Timo Werner
Belgium v Panama – Eden Hazard
Sweden v Japan – Marcus Berg
Form Players
When looking for the stars of this years World Cup, it’s important to look at the form players in the biggest domestic football leagues this season.
Premier League
Now the outright leader…@22mosalah ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/9NV8lMkWIG
— Premier League (@premierleague) March 18, 2018
Goals – Mohammed Salah, Harry Kane, Sergio Aguero
Assists – Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane
Clean Sheets – David De Gea, Ederson, Thibaut Courtois, Hugo Lloris
La Liga
Messi ️⚽️
Cristiano Ronaldo ️⚽️️⚽️️⚽️️⚽️
Griezmann ️⚽️
Stuani ️⚽️️⚽️Who will finish as the leading scorer in #LaLigaSantander? ? pic.twitter.com/3VLixsJRhJ
— LaLiga English (@LaLigaEN) March 18, 2018
Goals – Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez
Assists – Lionel Messi, Pione Sisto
Clean Sheets – Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Ivan Cueller
Bundesliga
Goals – Robert Lewandowski, Pierre-Emrick Aubameyang, Nils Petersen
Assists – Philip Max, Joshua Kimmich, Thomas Muller
Clean Sheets – Roman Burki
Serie A
Goals – Mauro Icardi, Paulo Dybala, Dries Mertens,
Assists – Luis Alberto
Clean Sheets – Alisson Becker
Ligue 1
Goals – Edinson Cavani, Neymar, Radamel Falcao
Assists – Neymar, Florian Thauvin, Dimitri Payet
Clean Sheets – Alphonse Areola
Are you interested in working with Fantasy Football Community on the World Cup? If so, drop us a message on Twitter, or email us at fantasyfootballcommunity@gmail.com
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