World Cup 2014 – Dugout Discussion – Matchday 4, Day 3

We now edge past the halfway point of Matchday 4 after Holland and Costa Rica clinched a place in the last eight yesterday evening. Both France and Germany take to the pitch tonight with the expectations of Fantasy managers weighing firmly on their shoulders – having won their respective groups on the back of two wins and a draw apiece, the unbeaten duo now square up to Nigeria and Algeria for a spot in the quarter-finals:

France: Lloris; Debuchy, Varane, Koscielny, Evra; Pogba, Cabaye, Matuidi;Valbuena, Giroud, Benzema

Nigeria: Enyeama; Ambrose Yobo, Omeruo, Oshaniwa; Mikel, Onazi; Odemwingie, Moses, Musa,; Emenike

After ringing the changes in the final group game against Ecuador, Didier Deschamps makes six alterations to his starting XI for the 5pm kick-off . At the back, only Laurent Koscielny keeps his place as Rafael Varane, Mathieu Debuchy and Patrice Evra come in for Mamadou Sakho, Bacary Sagna and Lucas Digne. Elsewhere, Yohan Cabaye replaces Morgan Schneiderlin in central midfield and Mathieu Valbuena and Olivier Giroud are drafted in for Moussa Sissoko and Antoine Griezmann in the front three.

Karim Benzema will carry the armband hopes for many Fantasy managers this evening as he looks to add to his three goals and two assists so far, whilst Giroud and Valbuena, with a goal and assist apiece, pose a real threat to a backline that conceded three to Argentina last time around.

Stephen Keshi makes one enforced change to the Nigeria XI, with Victor Moses replacing the injured Michael Babatunde in the attacking midfield three. Ahmed Musa is the man in form for the Africans, after scoring twice against Argentina, whilst lone forward Emmanuel Emineke will be looking for his first goal of the tournament, having picked up a pair of assists so far.

At 9pm, Joachim Low’s side go head-to-head with an Algeria side that put four past South Korea and drew against Russia over the group stages. Germany produced two clean sheets in their opening three matches, though there’s no question who is the star of the show so far – with four strikes and an assist accrued, Thomas Muller is the only German player to have played a part in more than one goal. Mesut Ozil has tested his owners’ patience and has failed to deliver any returns, whilst elsewhere in the front three, Mario Gotze is expected to reclaim his starting berth after Lukas Podolski was ruled out through injury.

Having already exceeded expectations, Algeria can afford to play without pressure heading into this one. The only side to find a way past Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois so far, they netted in all three of their group games and have a number of budget form players in the starting line-up – attacking midfield trio Yacine Brahimi, Abdelmoumene Djabou and Sofiane Feghouli have all delivered a goal and assist apiece, whilst Islam Slimani has scored in each of his last two appearances as the lone striker in a 4-2-3-1.