Jakub Blaszczykowski keeps Poland’s hopes of a last-eight place alive with a brilliant equaliser against Russia. Alan Dzagoev takes his tally to three for the tournament, while Vaclav Pilar also scores for the second game in succession as Czech Republic see off Fernando Santos’ Greece 2-1:
Greece 1 Czech Republic 2
Michael Bilek changed a couple of his starting XI for yesterday’s game against Greece, with Roman Hubnik and Jan Rezek both dropping to the bench. Hubnik’s omission meant Michal Kadlec moved to centre-half and allowed David Limbersky a role in the vacated left-back position, while the decision to drop Rezek saw Petr Jiracek shift to a more attacking role on the right of the midfield three, with Tomas Hubschman handed a slot in the double pivot.
The Czechs were quick to atone for their 4-1 hammering at the hands of Russia on Friday, going two-up within 10 minutes. Hubschman teed up Jiracek for the opener within three minutes before Theodor Gebre Selassie provided an assist for Vaclav Pilar to notch the second. Priced at 4.5 in the McDonald’s game, right-back Gebre Selassie is the cheapest nailed-on option at the back for the Czechs, though has a mere 1.9% ownership, while Pilar is proving an absolute bargain on the left of the midfield three. He has now scored in both his side’s first couple of fixtures and, costing just 5.0 with a 2.4% ownership in the McDonald’s game, has proven to be a strong cut-price differential. Tomas Rosicky’s Fantasy owners will be concerned over his half-time withdrawal; the midfielder is by far the most popular outfield player in the Czech side with over 15% ownership but made way for Daniel Kolar after the break.
Fernando Santos was forced into reshuffling his backline for the early kick-off. With his first-choice central defenders either injured or suspended, the Greece manager fielded Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Konstantinos Katsouranis in the heart of the back-four – the latter dropped out of central midfield, allowing Giorgos Fotakis a starting role. Elsewhere, Santos also tinkered with his front three – Konstantinos Fortounis and Dimitris Salpingidis were both handed starting roles, with Theofanis Gekas and Sotiris Ninis omitted from the team that started against Poland last Friday. Classified as a midfielder and coming in at just 4.0, Fortounis offers Fantasy managers an out-of-position squad-filler alternative, having started on the left of the attacking trio.
Fantasy owners of Greece keeper Konstantinos Chalkias will be anxiously awaiting an injury update after he limped out of the 2-1 defeat with just 23 minutes on the clock. Priced at 4.0, he appealed as a cut-price option between the posts but appears to have sustained a thigh problem – his replacement, 4.5 priced Michail Sefakis, picked up a six point return after keeping a clean sheet over his 67 minutes on the pitch. In truth, Greece were dire going forward and Theofanis Gekas – on as a second half sub – only managed to find the net after Petr Cech spilled an innocuous looking cross directly into his path. Despite the defeat, however, Santos’ side can still qualify for the last eight, depending on a number of permutations – currently on just one point, they must beat Russia to stand any sort of chance though they could, ironically, still go out if they win against Advocaat’s men, depending on the Czech-Poland result.
Poland 1 Russia 1
Franciszek Smuda made three alterations from the side that started against Greece last Friday. Przemyslaw Tyton started in goal due to Wojciech Szczesny’s suspension, while Dariusz Dudka was handed a role in the double pivot – this allowed Rafal Murawski a role in the hole and saw Ludovic Obraniak move to the left, with Maciej Rybus dropping out. With Szczesny’s one-match ban now served, Smuda now has to decide whether to reinstall the Arsenal man between the posts or stick with Tyton; from a Fantasy perspective, the latter is the better option, priced at just 4.0 to Szczesny’s 5.0.
Obraniak was the Poles’ chief creator in the 1-1 draw; he provided eight goalscoring opportunities and picked up an assist for Jakub Blaszczykowski’s crucial equaliser. The latter also received an extra point due to the recovered balls rule and returned eight points for his Fantasy owners – he is now on 13 points for the tournament after picking up an assist in the opener with Greece and will be crucial to his side’s chance of progress next Saturday. After a couple of draws, Poland know have their fate in their own hands – win against Czech Republic in their final group match and they are through.
Unsurprisingly, Dick Advocaat kept the same starting XI that saw off Czech Republic 4-1, meaning Vyacheslav Malafeev kept his place in goal at the expense of Igor Akinfeev. Aleksandr Kerzhakov remained up front but was once again woeful in front of goal – all four of his efforts were off target before he made way for Roman Pavlyuchenko on 70 minutes. Kerzhakov has now managed 11 shots over his two appearances but, with not a single shot on target, his starting role must surely be under threat.
Andrei Arshavin was the Russians’ main source of creativity – the Arsenal man provided five goalscoring opportunities and picked up an assist, his third of the tournament, after Alan Dzagoev nodded home a free-kick with 37 minutes on the clock. Dzagoev was his side’s main goal threat yet again and, having risen by 0.1 to 7.6 in the McDonald’s game after his brace in the previous Matchday, a price hike looks on the cards once more after last night’s display took his total to 20 points. With all four teams able to qualify, rest and rotation looks highly unlikely for Russia – a draw against Greece would be enough to see them through to the last eight and perhaps clinch top spot, though Advocaat will be keen to secure a win just to be on the safe side.
