World Cup Team 2.0 – 3.0

After even more tinkering, the site McDonald’s Official Fantasy World Cup team has been updated!!

Earlier this week, we shared our initial draft and we’ve now made some changes to further strengthen the side for Round 1.

Before checking out the World Cup team, make sure that you join the community in our McDonald’s World Cup Fantasy Football League. The 1st PLACE manager will WIN A REPLICA WORLD CUP SHIRT of their choice. To be a part of the FF Community Shield, manually enter our league code KZN8PFHP, or click the graphic below.

Update (14/06/18) – Team Confirmed

After some final tinkering, the site team has finally been confirmed. You can see our Round 1 line up in the graphic below. World Cup Team 2

The changes emerged, following the news that Sibide is out for France’s first game. This meant that Pavard (4.5) emerged as budget route into the France defence, saving 1.5 million. We’ve spent that cash in attack, with Cavani, Sanchez & Casemiro making way. De Arrasceata (5.5) provides a budget entrance into the Uruguayan attack, playing just behind Cavani & Suárez. This change, allowed important upgrades in the midfield. We wanted to prioritise a premium Brazil attacker, with Coutinho (9.0) getting the nod in a midfield slot. We also wanted a Russia attacker to captain on Opening Night. Miranchuk (6.5) could play up front for Russia. If he’s absent from the team sheet, we will change him for Golovin. Money saving in defence has meant spreading funds evenly in attack, with the cheaper players coming in the 5.5-6.5 bracket. With manual substitutions available, it was felt that this held more options to exploit the manual substitutions. The cheaper attackers feature in earlier games in the round.

Attack

We had initially gone for a gut feeling of Werner over Muller, despite stats leading to the latter being the stronger pick. After a couple of days thinking, we’ve reversed this pick. We’d also gone in bold on De Bruyne over Lukaku for our Belgian cover. However, De Bruyne has been playing very deep for Belgium, whereas Lukaku has been on fire in recently friendlies.

? | Resisted tinkering with my squad over the last couple of days, but think that the following moves might be benifical….

?? De Bruyne -> Lukaku
?? Werner -> Muller

How are those Community drafts looking?#worldcup

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— Fantasy Football Community (@FFCommunity_) June 12, 2018

These like for like changes meant no change in budget or team coverage. We feel much happier with this attacking line up. There’s still some question marks over our budget midfielders: Casemiro, Carrasco & Sanchez. The first two have a favourable fixture in Round 1, so may keep their place. We are still tempted to put in a Russia midfielder for opening night, with Golovin and Miranchuk high on the list. Line ups for this game will be out before the deadline, so one of these two may take Carrasco’s place.

Defence

We’ve made a number of changes to the defence, in order to maximise points for Round 1. With a planned round 2 wildcard, we’ve opted to select players from teams with decent clean sheet odds for Round 1. The targets were: Russia vs Saudi Arabia (4/6) Uruguay vs Egypt (3/4) Argentina vs Iceland (4/7) France vs Australia (1/2) Belgium vs Panama (2/5) England vs Tunisia (13/20) Meunier is the only player to keep his place in the squad from our initial draft. France had better clean sheet odds than Germany for the opener, so Hummels became Varane (6.0). England had better clean sheet odds than Columbia, so despite our anti-bias towards the home nation, Pickford (5.5) gets the nod. We did have Hegazi, but didn’t fancy his clean sheet chances against Uruguay. Instead, we’ve gone with cheap Russian starter, Kudriashov (4.5): a clean sheet isn’t out of the question against Saudi Arabia, plus he provides a captain option for opening night. Some budget players from premium teams have emerged in the last couple of days. Varela (4.5) should start at right back for Uruguay. Tagliafico (5.0) provides a cheap route into the solid Argentine defence, giving important cover.

Round 1

Here’s how the World Cup team now lines up for Round 1. The captain armband will move to Cavani, Griezmann, Muller, Lukaku & Rodriguez as the round progresses.

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