Tempting though it is to indulge in the Quincy-style post-mortem that’s underway (there was definitely a murder involved), once again I’ll opt to gloss over the inadequacies of another England performance and concentrate instead on the fact that it’s Germany that make progress to the last eight. Argentina’s predictable passage over a plucky Mexican side duly completed the top half of the last eight draw and left us Fantasy Managers with a far clearer picture of how our squads could be shaped for the next round…
Thomas Muller’s two goals and an assist have put him on top of the rankings for forwards in the McFIFA game and therefore given his stock the kind of rise that many will find hard to resist. He is one of three options up front for Germany, with Lukas Podolski second in the rankings and Miroslav Klose continuing to look menacing having scored his second of the tournament against the hapless England defence. Those three, along with the impish skills of Mesut Ozil will be the chief tormentors of the Argentinian rearguard next Saturday but to back them and transfer them into your squad is to back Germany for a semi-final place. A risky policy.
Maradona’s side have three huge attacking talents of their own – all of which look to be potentially more devastating and certainly more glamorous. Gonzalo Higuain is now leading the chase for the Golden Boot have notched his fourth goal of the tournament against the Mexicans, whilst the contrasting brace of goals for Carlos Tevez, coupled with his bonus grabbing abilities in the McFIFA game, keep him bubbling under as an option. Then of course there’s Lionel Messi who remains unable to register a goal in the tournament but continues to feed his Fantasy owners with consistent returns via attacking bonus and assists. Can he really go the entire tournament without earning a goal to boost that contribution? It looks unlikely.
Personally I see Argentina’s attacking talents being too much for the Germans. Both sides will go into the game with question marks over their defensive resolve but I just see Maradona’s men standing more chance of containing Germany’s attacking forays. In contrast the unpredictable individual talent at Argentina’s disposal is a league above anything that Germany have come up against to this point.
One thing looks certain – further investment in either the Argentinian or German defences looks unwise. We’ve yet to see a single second round shut-out to this point and owners of Phillip Lahm will likely have to rely on bonus returns should they hold on to their expensive asset. That’s likely to leave many investing further in the mid-price Uruguayan defence against Ghana, whilst assessing the defensive qualities of the remaining Quarter-Final candidates.
Many will be looking to Brazil’s Maicon and Michel Bastos for returns today, along with Holland’s Maarten Stekelenburg and Gregory Van der Wiel. With those two sides scheduled to meet should they progress to the Quarter-Finals however, clean sheet returns look set to remain scarce and could see us looking to Spain or Portugal who are on course to meet Paraguay in the last eight.