As the minutes tick down until Matchday 3 gets underway at 5pm this evening, we take a look at the standings in the FantasyiTeam game. One of the first Fantasy games to get up and running ahead of Brazil 2014, it’s easy-to-use interface has made it a popular choice for many users on the site:
A free-to-play Fantasy football app, FiT is available on a number of mobile devices, including iPhone, iPad, iPodTouch and Android. We’re supporting FiT throughout the summer and have an official Fantasy Football Scout League, with a £500 Amazon voucher available to the winner. There’s also the small matter of a £5k holiday available as the prize to the overall FiT World Cup winner.
Fantasy Football Scout League
The top five in the Scout League are separated by just five points as the battle at the summit intensifies. Stefano Van Meedows leads the way on 187 points after three of his four transfers all found the net. Stefano used his trio of free trades to draft in goalscorers Robin Van Persie, Lionel Messi, Jermain Jones and also used the option to purchase a fourth (which costs 100 FiT Credits), by bringing in Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal’s draw with USA last night. Stefano has the highest team value of our top five managers – having kept a keen eye on the transfer market, he’s boosted his budget from an initial £75.0m to £77.1m.
Just a single point behind in second place is Meng Kuan Chan, whose team are lined up in a 4-5-1 formation as we head into Matchday 3. He also made four transfers last time around, bringing in Mario Mandzukic, Messi, Thomas Muller and Edin Dzeko – already, he’s acquired Neymar for Brazil’s vital encounter with Cameroon later this evening.
Sitting in third place in the Scout League is Dimi Papamichael. He drafted in Dutch duo Arjen Robben and Van Persie for the 3-2 win over Australia and also acquired Thomas Muller and Cristiano Ronaldo – currently sitting on 185 points, he approaches Matchday 3 in a 3-4-3 formation and, whilst Robben looks perfectly placed to bring in the points for a third successive match, Dimi has yet to acquire Brazil players for tonight’s match.
David Clarke and Jonathan Bancroft complete our top five, with 184 and 183 points respectively. David has wasted no time in changing around his team and has already made his four transfers for Matchday 3 – his 4-3-3 formation sees Messi, Neymar and Karim Benzema leading the line. Jonathan may decide to part company with Edin Dzeko and Alexander Kokorin for their final group games after neither player impressed last time around, though in midfield, he’ll be hoping Thomas Muller and Mathieu Valbuena can continue their impressive showings for Germany and France respectively.
If you haven’t joined already, we’ve already set up an official Fantasy Football Scout league. The league name is Fantasy Football Scout and the pin is 4915.
*Fantasy managers should be aware that, once the game is updated at 11am on Friday June 27, we will have unlimited transfers to freshen up our squads ahead of the last 16 round. This means that all player prices will be frozen until 4.50pm the following day, just prior to the first game of the knockout stages getting underway.
The Top Scorers
With three goals and a pair of assist in his opening couple of appearances, France’s Karim Benzema is the joint-top scoring player in the FantasyiTeam game, with 25 points accrued. Despite being shifted to the left of a front three for last week’s win over Switzerland, the Real Madrid man still served up a goal and two assists in the 5-2 rout and now sits at £10.2m ahead of Wednesday’s match with Ecuador.
Germany’s Thomas Muller provided an assist in the midweek draw with Ghana to add to his Matchday 1 hat-trick against Portugal and also sits on 25 points. Classified as a midfielder in FantasyiTeam, Muller has risen from £7.5m to £8.2m and has proven a superb out of position option in light of a move to Joachim Low’s front three.
Dutch duo Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie are next in the standings with 22 and 19 points respectively. Both grabbed a goal apiece against Australia in Matchday 2 and have now notched three times for Louis Van Gaal’s side but while Robben (now priced at £8.1m in FantasyiTeam,) remains very much on our radars after a shift to the front two, Van Persie’s second booking of the tournament means he is suspended for today’s match with Chile.
Also on 19 points is Ecuador’s Enner Valencia. Available for a mere £6.1m in FantasyiTeam, he’s proven to be one of the most budget-friendly options around in the opening couple of Matchdays. After notching against Switzerland in the opener, he bagged a brace to help secure a vital win over Honduras and has now scored in six of his last seven internationals – up next, he’ll be hoping to take advantage of a France backline that conceded twice to the Swiss last time around.
Colombia full-back Pablo Armero (who sets you back just £5.1m) is one of three players on 16 points after he delivered a goal and clean sheet in the first two fixtures against Greece and Ivory Coast. Armero’s team-mate James Rodriguez and Ghana’s Andre Ayew have delivered 16 points apiece from midfield. Coming in at £6.6m and £5.0m, they’ve both proven consistent performers and scored in each of their appearances, though Rodriguez owners will be perhaps a little more optimistic of further returns in Matchday 3 – whilst the South Americans face Japan this time round, Ghana face a tricky task against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal on Thursday evening.
