The FIFA McDonalds Game – Navigating the Knockouts

After 15 days and 48 matches, the transfer window has finally reopened in the official FIFA McDonalds Fantasy game.

Frustrated by our inability to react to player and team form to this point, we now have the chance to jump on the various bandwagons and re-construct our squads for the knock-out stages. We have up until 5pm today to make selections for round of 16 and in this article I’ll fire you a few tips on potential strategies.

The Gameweek Tournament

Firstly it’s important to stress that the tournament now shifts into a familiar Gameweek structure. You have unlimited transfers through the knockout rounds, so Fantasy managers need only pick the best 23 man squad for that Gameweek, with no concern on team progression.

As we’ve already seen, defenders, particularly those under attacking pressure throughout games have scored highly, even after conceding.

In traditional set ups, where only a few free transfers are offered between rounds, players in sides that are likely to be eliminated are not key targets. However, in the FIFA game, loading up Algerians and Costa Ricans in defence could be shrewd tactic that will free up funds for big investment in attacking areas.

Order of play

Be aware of the new order of matches. Teams like Colombia and Uruguay who previously played their matches in midweek, now play second in the schedule in the round of 16. Whilst Argentina play second from last.Some things have remained consistent, however, with Brazil kicking off first and Belgium closing the Gameweek off.

The strategy is to load up on as many active assets in your squad and rotate them through the Gameweek, in hope of landing on the best scores available.

Algeria are key here. Their progression has given Fantasy managers the ability to fit out their squads with cheap playing assets. Crucially, with the new fixture schedule, Algeria no longer play in the last round of games each Gameweek, Previously, should you select Algerians in your starting XI, you would be stuck with whatever points they gained. Now you can gamble on your Algerians, knowing if the score poorly, you can simply replace them with pricier assets from Argentina or Belgium. Group stage budget favourites such as Mbolhi, Medjani and Slimani now become even more useful additions to our squads.

The Statistics

Since the FIFA game fails to list player statistics, I’ve attempted to construct a spreadsheet for the group stage of all 16 teams processioning to the knockout rounds.

I based this on the current rules on the website which, it must be said, have changed constantly during the run up to the launch day. You have to search far and wide for the official statistics and, even then, we can only really make a presumption on statistics such as “delivered balls into the box”. Meanwhile, for blocked shots, I found that I only had access to statistics for defenders.

Whilst digging, I also found another anomaly in the ruleshet. The game states that a player has to play 60 plus minutes before bonus points can be applied, but previous scores seems to override this: James Rodriguez earned an 80% completion bonus even though he only played 45 minutes against Japan.

With all that in mind, the information below can never be totally accurate and can only be used as a rough guide for selecting transfer targets.

Top 25 Total Points Scorers

Ger Hummels df 42
Mex Marquez df 41
Bel van buyten df 39
Bra Neymar fw 39
Fra Sakho Df 37
Fra Benzema fw 37
Hol Robben fw 37
Arg Messi fw 36
Ger Muller fw 36
Swi Shaqiri mf 34
Crc G. Gonlalez df 33
Nga Enyeama gk 33
Arg Rojo df 32
Bra Luiz df 32
Col Rodriguez mf 32
Crc Duarte df 32
Nga Omeruo df 31
Swi R.Rodriguez df 31
Ger Hoewedes df 30
Mex Moreno df 30
Arg f. Fernandez df 29
Ger Mertesacker df 29
Mex Guardado df 29
Uru Godin df 29
Chi Isla df 28
Crc Gamboa df 28
Nga Ambrose df 28

Isla, Gamboa and Ambrose are tied for 25th best player.

As you can see defenders dominate the top overall scorers (though this is likely due to no blocked shots stats for midfielders and forwards) we already knew the game was in the favour of defensive play and Defenders have already scored well during the group stage. Overall, 19 of the top 25 players in the list are Defenders, indicating that a 5-3-2 formation could be a favoured tactic.

Top 15 Ball Recoveries

Team Player Pos Balls Recovered
Ger Hummels df 31
Chi Medel df 27
Bel van buyten df 24
Bra Gustavo mf 24
Arg Rojo df 23
Arg Mascherano mf 23
Nga Omeruo df 23
Mex Marquez df 22
Crc G. Gonlalez df 22
Hol de jong mf 22
Uru Godin df 21
Hol Janmatt df 21
Chi Jara df 20
Nga Ambrose df 20
Uru Arevalo mf 20

Deep lying players such as centre-backs and defensive midfielders look to have reaped recovered balls, particularly in teams that keep possession. These players sweep in and pick up the loose ball after the opposition has cleared it down field or lost possession in the middle of the park.

strong>Top 10 Blocked Shots – I was only able to find the statistics for defenders only so this category is just a rough guide.

Team Player Pos Blocked shots
Bel van buyten df 4
Swi Djourou df 4
Arg F. Fernandez df 3
Bra Luiz df 3
Chi Isla df 3
Col Zapata df 3
Crc G. Gonlalez df 3
Fra Sakho df 3
Gre Manolas df 3
Mex Moreno df 3
Usa Cameron df 3

Top 10 Balls Delivered into Box
This category includes both crosses/passes and dribbles into the area so again it’s only a rough guide with a lot of players on the list just as likely to dribble the ball into the area as well pass it.

Team Player pos  Balls Delivered
Arg Di Maria mf 20
Arg Messi fw 14
Fra Benzema fw 13
Chi Sanchez fw 12
Col Rodriguez mf 12
Bra Neymar fw 11
Ger Ozil mf 11
Hol Robben fw 11
Bel Mertens mf 9
Swi Shaqiri mf 9

80% Pass Completion
18 players got the bonus point in all 3 games, again most are deep lying players able to rack up the easy passes, whilst playmakers like Sneijder who look to unlock defences with a sliderule passes have lots of attempts intercepted.

Team Player Pos
Arg Garay df
Arg Zabaleta df
Arg F. Fernandez df
Arg Mascherano mf
Bel van buyten df
Bra Thiago Silva df
Bra Luiz df
Fra Sakho df
Ger Hoewedes df
Ger Mertesacker df
Ger Lahm mf
Ger Kroos mf
Gre Manolas df
Hol de Viji df
Hol de Jong mf
Mex Vasquez mf
Swi Djourou df
Swi Inler mf

Top 10 Saves
Team Player Pos Saves
Nga Enyeama gk 17
Swi Benaglio gk 14
Col Ospina gk 13
Alg Mbolhi gk 12
Chi  Bravo gk 12
Usa Howard gk 12
Arg Romero gk 9
Bel Courtois gk 9
Ger Neuer gk 9
Gre Karnezis gk 8
Mex Ochoa gk 8

Obviously the keepers in front of poor defences are called upon to make saves more frequently but its perhaps telling that both Courtois and Neuer have made it onto this list, with their defences faltering just enough to rack up the save points but able to avoid conceding (both have managed to keep 2 clean sheets adding more points). They seem to be the perfect balance for a Fantasy keeper.