Hopes high for well-backed Germany assets

The second of Sunday’s trilogy of World Cup matches is the Group F encounter between Germany and Mexico, which takes place at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. Kick-off is at 4pm.

The match will be of much greater interest to Fantasy managers than the lunchtime meeting between Serbia and Costa Rica, with Germany players in particular widely owned in the McDonald’s FIFA World Cup game.

Die Mannschaft’s backline warrants special attention, with Joshua Kimmich (£6.5m) the most-bought German player: 26% of McDonald’s FIFA managers own the Bayern Munich full-back, who recorded an incredible nine assists in ten qualification appearances.

Manuel Neuer (£6.0m), who missed most of 2017/18 through injury, and Mats Hummels (£6.0m) are owned by 22% and 14% of Fantasy managers respectively, meanwhile.

Thomas Muller (£9.5m), who top-scored for Germany during qualifying and who scored five goals in both the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, is owned by 16% of Fantasy managers, perhaps a surprisingly low percentage given his tournament pedigree and midfielder classification.

No Mexico player is owned by more than 1% of those playing McDonald’s FIFA, which is not a huge shock given the tough nature of El Tri’s opening group match.

Juan Carlos Osorio’s side scored on more occasions and conceded fewer goals in qualification than Costa Rica and Panama, the other two CONCACAF nations who made it to Russia.

Goalscoring has been an issue in recent friendlies, though: Giovani dos Santos’ strike in the 1-0 win over Scotland was Mexico’s only goal in their last four internationals, which were all contested against European opposition.

No UEFA nation scored more goals in qualification than Germany (43), while only Spain and England let in fewer goals than Joachim Low’s side, who conceded four.

Set-pieces could be an area to watch today: Germany scored twice as many goals from direct corners (eight) as any other UEFA nation during qualifying. No European country had more goal attempts from set plays, either.

The 2014 World Cup winners haven’t been in such commanding form in 2018, however: the unconvincing 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia on 8 June was their first victory in four internationals contested this year.