Fantasy World Cup Differentials

I came up with the idea of this article after reading Bowstring the Trout’s intriguing piece featuring early options for the World Cup. The article contained many household names who should achieve success in Brazil with their national teams, accompanied by key players from smaller nations whose influence for their national teams can allow World Cup minnows to dream. For this article, though, I will solely focus on players that have potential score well in the various Fantasy Football World Cup games on our radar. Obviously the likes of Messi, Ronaldo and Suarez will be amongst the “heavy hitters”, so for the purpose of this article I will only give my opinion on “differential” or budget players to give us the edge over casual Fantasy Football players.

Goalkeepers

There are many budget goalkeepers amongst the 32 participants. Goalkeepers should be evaluated by considering their group-stage fixtures and analysing the nations who will play a defensive system at the World Cup.

Igor Akinfeev: The Russian shot-stopper can be credited with Russia’s impressive World Cup qualification where they finished top of Group F, leaving runners-up Portugal to qualify through the play-offs. Russia only conceded five goals en route to Brazil, including a clean sheet at home to Portugal. Managed by Fabio Capello, defensive organisation is expected from Russia, and with group fixtures against Algeria and South Korea, you’d imagine clean sheets will continue for the Russians this summer.

Vincent Enyeama: Captain of Nigeria since 2010, Enyeama has had a solid season with club side Lille where he almost broke the French league record for the longest spell without conceding a goal but fell short on 1,062 minutes. The Africa Cup of Nations holders have an inexperienced defence but their athleticism should see them prosper in the warm conditions in Brazil. Featuring in Group C versus Argentina, Iran and Bosnia, Nigeria historically give Argentina a difficult game, while Iran and Bosnia are both inexperienced at this level.

Keylor Navas: The Costa Rican keeper has had an astounding season at Levante, keeping 13 clean sheets this season. He makes important saves in important matches. Italy, England and Uruguay provide the opposition but their manager Jorge Luis Pinto often switches to a 5-4-1 or 3-6-1 formation to tactically outwit his managerial counterparts. This could be perceived as “parking the bus” and it could mean lots of save points for Navas. He could have a similar impact to former Costa Rican keeper Luis Conejo at Italia ’90.

Defenders

Again, when choosing defenders, follow the fixtures of the players’ group-stage opponents to look for clean-sheet potential. Also look for attacking potential, although with so few games it’s likely defenders might not have enough time to get attacking returns but the possibility is always there.

Ricardo Rodriquez: The “Swiss Leighton Baines” in terms of Fantasy football. A dangerous free-kick taker who supplies endless crosses into the box, proven by his nine assists for club side Wolfsburg this season. He also averaged 2.3 key passes per game in the Bundesliga. Switzerland’s group opposition include France, Ecuador and Honduras so it’s likely the Swiss could keep clean sheets in at least two of these matches.

Dario Srna: Captain of Shakhtar Donestk and Croatia, the full-back has scored six goals in 24 matches in the Ukrainian championship this season. He is dangerous from set-plays which he shares with Ivan Rakitic. If Croatia are chasing a a game they often move Srna to play right wing so he could even become an out-of-position option. Croatia will face Brazil, Cameroon and Mexico in Group A.

Marcel Schmelzer: Champions League finalist in the 2012/13 season with Borussia Dortmund the German left back attacks well to give the German team width as Reus often cuts inside onto his right foot. The German defence was leaky in qualification but expect Germany to rectify this problem before their opening game verus Portugal. Germany play “possession football”, and similar to Spain, this helps them defensively as their opponents rarely get opportunities to score goals against them.

Midfielders

With 4-2-3-1 being the trend formation across the European leagues, midfielders are expected to chip in with goals to support the lone striker. Examples include Muller at 2010 World Cup and Dzagoev at Euro 2012, proving that differential midfielders have the potential to match heavy hitters if chosen wisely.

Yohan Cabaye: We’ve had first-hand experience of how Cabaye fares in Fantasy football. Capable of the odd spectacular long-range effort, accompanied by set-pieces, the former Newcastle man should relish playing “in the hole” for France. His starting place is now more assured with Samir Nasri’s exclusion from the French squad, to the distaste of Nasri’s girlfriend.

Mario Gotze: German manager Joachim Low has opted for to play with a “false nine” eight times over the last two years in various qualification fixtures and friendlies. Were Low to continue with this formation, Gotze would benefit similarly to Fabregas at Euro 2012. Germany scored 36 goals in 10 qualification games for the World Cup.

Kevin De Bruyne: The ex-Chelsea attacking midfielder is very influential for Belgium, scoring and assisting four in qualification for Brazil. A cheaper alternative to Hazard I’d imagine while still having coverage for Belgium. Granville had De Bruyne in his Fantasy team for Chelsea’s early double Gameweek, so will he pick him again?

Forwards

There will be many heavy hitting strikers with crazy prices if previous World Cup/Euro Fantasy games are any indication, therefore I’ll only give my opinion on budget strikers in order to afford two other top-class forwards.

Oribe Peralta: The Mexican forward is outshining Chicharito for the national team at the moment. He scored the two goals that won Mexico the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics against Brazil and notched five times in the play-off games against New Zealand. Mexico’s traditional attacking style at World Cups should provide him with plenty of goalscoring opportunities.

Eduardo Vargas: The Chilean forward is part of Jorge Sampoli’s high-pressure attacking approach which has brought the team great success in recent times. Vargas has an impressive record of scoring against the top national teams, scoring two goals in each game versus Brazil and Spain, along with a goal against Uruguay in the qualification stages.