After the semi-finals delivered one of the most unforgettable matches in World Cup history, there are now just two fixtures remaining for Fantasy managers to plan around. With a day still to go before Brazil and Holland get Matchday 7 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’ve been 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
We’ve a new leader in this week’s Scout League after the semi-finals came to a conclusion on Wednesday evening. King Jon soared to the summit after racking up the points in both matches – Thomas Muller, Toni Kroos, Andre Schurrle and Oscar served up an incredible six goals and two assists between them in Germany’s 7-1 drubbing of Brazil, whilst Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo, Stefan de Vrij and Sergio Romero all returned a clean sheet as Argentina and Holland played out a goalless draw the following evening. With a total of 475 points accrued, King John has a 22-point advantage over his nearest rival but will need to swap out Argentina centre-half Federico Fernandez, who has failed to feature in each of the last two matches.
In second position is Lewis Nicklen on 453 points. His decision to load up on Dutch and Argentina defenders earned six clean sheets from the Wednesday match, though aside from Thomas Muller, his remaining players failed to deliver the points – unsurprisingly, he currently has the armband on the Germany man for Sunday’s final against Argentina.
Former leader Stefano Van Meedows slips to third spot on 452 points. He opted against any Argentina defenders for the game against Holland and earned just two clean sheets from the second semi-final – having sold Muller and Benedikt Howedes after Tuesday’s game, Manuel Neuer is his only German asset, though with seven players set to play in Saturday’s Brazil-Holland encounter, his trio of free Matchday 7 trades looks likely to be used the following evening.
Just a further point behind in fourth is Paul Fitzgerald. He used his three free trades to draft in Toni Kroos, Mesut Ozil and Gonzalo Higuain and also took up the option to purchase a fourth (which costs 100 FiT Credits) to acquire Argentina keeper Sergio Romero for the game against Holland. He now has a quartet of players on board for Saturday’s match – a trio of Dutch defenders and Arjen Robben – and could, potentially, field XI players for Sunday’s final if he opts to use four transfers again.
Craig Woodward completes the top five with 447 points. With Costa Rica’s Keylor Navas between the sticks, he’ll be seeking a Matchday 7 keeper, though, whilst he may also be looking to re-acquire Thomas Muller and Mats Hummels, having sold both players after Germany’s win over Brazil.
Top Scorers
A trio of Germany players top the leaderboard as we head into the final Matchday. Thomas Muller sits on 54 points after his goal and assist in the 7-1 rout of Brazil – with five goals and four assists so far, the Bayern man has been one of the most consistent performers at Brazil 2014 and has failed to deliver points in only one of his six appearances. Currently priced at £8.7m in FiT from an initial £7.5m, Muller looks poised for further investment for the final.
Mats Hummels remains in second position despite limping off at half-time in the win over Brazil. The centre-half had delivered two goals and three assists in four appearances prior to Tuesday’s match but is hoping to recover from a knee problem in time for Sunday’s game with Argentina – at present, he costs a very reasonable £6.5m.
Climbing into joint-third third spot is Toni Kroos on 36 points. The German midfielder delivered a huge 17 points against the Brazilians and has now served up two goals and four assists in the FiT game – coming in at just £7.1m, he offers an excellent mid-price route into Joachim Low’s in-form side for the clash against Argentina. Arjen Robben also sits on 36 points but has frustrated Fantasy managers over the last two Matchdays. Classified as a midfielder in the FiT game, the Dutchman has now delivered back-to-back blanks against Costa Rica and Argentina but will be optimistic of getting amongst the goals against Brazil’s porous defence on Saturday.
Further down the leaderboard, the injured Neymar remains on 33 points, just one ahead of £6.0m-priced defenders Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo. The latter pair have rewarded their Fantasy owners at both ends of the pitch – Blind has registered three assists and a trio of clean sheets over his six appearances, whilst Rojo – who returned from a one-match suspension against the Dutch – has managed a goal, an assist and three clean sheets in five games for Alejandro Sabella’s side.
On 30 points apiece are Holland defender Stefan de Vrij and Brazil midfielder Oscar. The duo go head-to-head in Saturday night’s third/fourth place play-off and De Vrij, who comes in at just £5.6m, has rewarded his owners with a goal and three clean sheets to date, whilst the £7.6m-priced Oscar looks Brazil’s best bet of overcoming the Dutch, having registered two goals and a pair of assists over the tournament.
