After a weekend of high drama, there are now just a quartet of World Cup hopefuls remaining as Fantasy managers start to plan their tactics for the upcoming semi-finals. With a day still to go before Brazil and Germany get the last four underway at 9pm tomorrow, we take another look at the FantasyiTeam game, as we analyse the top scoring Fantasy managers and players of the tournament so far:
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
Stefano Van Meedows holds steady at the summit and has now extended his lead to 21 points after the quarter-finals came to a conclusion on Saturday night. Sitting on 413 points, Stefano used his three free trades to draft in Robin Van Persie, Arjen Robben and Memphis Depay for Holland’s clash with Costa Rica and also used the option to purchase a fourth (which costs 100 FiT Credits) to acquire Argentina’s budget midfielder Luca Biglia. He’s already picked up Germany’s Benedikt Howedes ahead of tomorrow’s deadline and has five Dutchman, three Germans, two Argentines and a single Brazilian in his starting XI, with the armband currently on Van Persie for the showdown with Argentina.
Dimi Papamichael is also a non-mover in second position. He also made four trades in the previous round – Van Persie and Robben were joined by team-mate Wesley Sneijder, whilst Neymar also found his way into Dimi’s plans for the game against Colombia. The latter’s tournament-ending back injury, allied with the elimination of Belgium’s Divock Origi and Colombia’s Juan Cuadrado, means Dimi’s upcoming transfer plans look straightforward as he attempts to improve upon his current tally of 392 points.
Warren Grant climbs from fourth into third spot in the Scout League after moving onto 388 points. Ahead of the semi-finals, he has plenty of tinkering to do, though – five of his current XI (Colombia’s James Rodriguez, Juan Cuadrado and David Ospina, along with France’s Mathieu Valbuena and Costa Rica’s Oscar Duarte) have been knocked out, leaving Warren with just six active players as he looks to bolster his haul of 388 points.
Dansen Low drops down into fourth spot, sitting just a single point behind Warren on 387 points. He also made four transfers last week –Robben, Sneijder and Stefan de Vrij from Holland, along with Argentina’s Ezequiel Lavezzi – though, like Warren, has plenty of restructuring on his agenda for the last four, with four of his players no longer in the competition.
A new arrival in the Scout League top five, Euan MacDonald has racked up 383 points to date. He currently has four Argentina players, three Dutchmen and a couple of Germany’s options in his line-up- Colombia pair Pablo Armero and Juan Cuadrado will need replacing after being beaten by Brazil, whilst an injury to Angel di Maria will also need to be addressed for Argentina’s clash with the Dutch on Wednesday.
Top Scorers
Only two forwards are amongst the top 10 scorers still remaining in the World Cup after the quarter-finals delivered just five goals over the four matches. Germany’s Thomas Muller – classified as a midfielder and available for £8.6m in the FantasyiTeam game – served up his first blank of the tournament in the 1-0 win over France but sits at the summit on 40 points, courtesy of four goals and a pair of assists.
Muller’s team-mate Mats Hummels is positioned in second spot on 35 points, having netted the winner against France. In just four appearances, the centre-half has scored twice and delivered three clean sheets for his owners – he’s currently available for only £6.4m ahead of the game against a Brazil side still reeling from the loss of Neymar to injury.
Arjen Robben also retains a lofty position despite failing to score or assist for the first time against Costa Rica. Having served up three goals in his first two appearances, the returns have started to dry up for the Dutchman – just two assists in the subsequent three matches, in spite of his spot up front for Louis Van Gaal’s side. Classified as a midfielder, he can be acquired for £8.5m ahead of Holland’s match with an obstinate Argentina side that has delivered three clean sheets in their last four fixtures.
Lionel Messi and Neymar are both just a single point behind Robben on 33 points. A blank against Belgium was Messi’s first of the tournament, with his four goals and single assist delivered over Argentina’s first four fixtures – with options up front few and far between, he is understandably the priciest striker around and his price has climbed to £11.6m for the midweek encounter against the Dutch. Stretchered off against Colombia last Friday, Neymar’s expected four-week absence has seen his owners offload en masse, with his cost currently sitting at £9.9m from a high of £10.6m.
Brazil’s David Luiz continues to climb the rankings thanks mainly to his attacking endeavours. A superb long-range free-kick in the 2-1 win over Colombia means he has now served up two goals and an assist in his last three appearances – somewhat atoning for some poor defensive displays that have seen the hosts muster just one clean sheet to date. Sitting on 28 points, he currently costs you £6.4m, the same as Hummels.
Tucked in just behind on 25 points apiece is a trio of reasonably-priced defenders, Daley Blind (£5.9m), Marcos Rojo (£5.9m) and Benedikt Howedes (£5.8m). Holland’s Blind has failed to add to the three assists produced in his first two appearances but a move to the left wing-back spot against Costa Rica will afford his owners optimism for the clash against Argentina. Suspended for the quarter-final clash with Belgium, Argentina’s Rojo seems poised to return to the starting XI in midweek and will be looking to add to his goal, assist and two clean sheets in four appearances. Howedes has offered less threat going forward for Germany – the left-back has just a single assist to his name but with three clean sheets in five appearances, has been a steady, if somewhat unspectacular, source of Fantasy points thus far.
