Brazil and Germany premium assets disappoint

Germany and Brazil largely disappointed World Cup Fantasy managers on day four of the tournament in Russia.

Neither side was able to register a win in their opening matches as their highly owned Fantasy assets disappointed, with the exception of Philippe Coutinho (£9.0m).

We’ve got all the goals and assists you need to know about from the latest World Cup matches.

Germany 0-1 Mexico

Despite Germany’s assets being well-backed by World Cup Fantasy managers it was Hirving Lozano (£8.0m), Javier Hernandez (£8.5m) and the Mexican defence that came out on top in Moscow.

PSV Eindhoven winger Lozano was the goal-scorer for the central American underdogs in game where Germany looked defensively frail.

Juan Carlos Osorio had Mexico attack the reigning World Cup champions in wide areas and found great success.

Lozano was able to exploit space on the left-flank in the 35th minute when sent clear by West Ham striker Hernandez. He cut inside onto his right-foot and beat Manuel Neuer (£6.0m) at his near post.

Joshua Kimmich (£6.5m) earned plenty of transfer interest in the build-up to the World Cup on the back of his advanced positioning yielding him two goals and nine assists in qualifying.

However, his propensity to bomb forward proved too enthusiastic for Germany with centre-backs Mats Hummels (£6.0m) and Jerome Boateng (£6.0m) left exposed on the counter-attack.

Such tactical decisions surely reduces the Fantasy value of all the premium defence assets in Germany’s squad.

At the other end of the pitch, Thomas Mueller (£9.5m) and Timo Werner (£9.5m) were unable to find the breakthrough to justify their price-tags.

However, their efforts on goal allowed Guillermo Ochoa (£5.0m) to earn an extra two save-points, taking his match tally to eight.

GERMANY XI (4-2-3-1): Neuer; Plattenhardt (Gomez 79’), Hummels, Boateng, Kimmich; Kroos, Khedira (Reus 60’); Draxler, Ozil, Muller; Werner (Brandt 86’).

MEXICO XI (4-2-3-1): Ochoa; Gallardo, Moreno, Ayala, Salcedo; Guardado (Marquez 74’), Herrera; Lozano (Jimenez 66’), Vela (Alvarez 58’), Layun; Hernandez.

Brazil 1-1 Switzerland

Brazil were the latest former champions to be stunned by an underdog in their opening game of the 2018 World Cup.

On the back of high Fantasy interests the Selecao were held to a 1-1 draw by an opportunistic Switzerland.

Philippe Coutinho justified his £9.0m price-tag and 29% ownership in the first-half with a wonderful individual goal.

Picking up a headed clearance on the edge of the box, the former Liverpool midfielder bent the ball beautifully into the top right-hand corner of the goal to open the scoring.

Paulinho (£8.5m) nearly continued his impressive scoring record for Brazil but his scuffed effort in the box dribbled inches wide. Thiago Silva (£6.0m) and Joao Miranda (£6.0m) also offered some threat from Neymar’s (£12.0m) corners.

Switzerland still asked questions of Tite’s side, though, with Stephane Zuber (£6.5m) firing home an equalising header from Xherdan Shaqiri’s (£8.5m) corner in the 50th minute. After that, they stood up to intense Brazilian pressure and held on for a point.

However, Brazil demonstrated good game management in large spells of the match. They looked dangerous going forward and appeared to control the match with good organisation at the back and in midfield too.

With the lack of quality shown by either Costa Rica or Serbia in their Samara-based encounter, interest in what Brazil have to offer on World Cup Fantasy is expected to remain fairly high, with Swiss defence also a potential target for investment.

BRAZIL XI (4-3-3): Alisson; Marcelo, Joao Miranda, Thiago Silva, Danilo; Philippe Coutinho, Casemiro (Fernandinho 60’), Paulinho (Renato Augusto 67’); Neymar, Gabriel Jesus (Roberto Firmino 79’), Willian.

SWITZERLAND (4-2-3-1): Sommer; Rodriguez, Akanji, Schar, Lichsteiner (Lang 87’); Xhaka, Behrami (Zakaria 71’); Zuber, Dzemaili, Shaqiri; Seferovic (Embolo 80’).

Costa Rica 0-1 Serbia

Former Fantasy Premier League hero Aleksandr Kolarov (£5.5m) was the star of the show for Serbia as they beat Costa Rica 1-0.

His excellent 56th minute free-kick found the top right-hand of Keylor Navas’ (£5.0m) net and his clean sheet in a poor game of football took his match tally to 12 points.

Costa Rica had the greater share of possession (53 percent) but offered little going forward, with Joel Campbell (£7.0m) featuring only as a second-half substitute.

Serbia looked more dangerous with Aleksandr Mitrovic (£7.5m) having chances to score a second while Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (£7.0m) offered great threat as an advanced playmaker.

However, with neither sides looking wholly convincing in the 90 minutes and Brazil and Switzerland their next two opponents they are expected to be largely avoided by World Cup Fantasy managers.

COSTA RICA XI (3-4-2-1): Navas; Duarte, Gonzalez, Acosta; Calvo, Guzman (Colindres 73’), Borges, Gamboa; Venegas (Bolanos 60’), Ruiz; Urena (Campbell 67’).

SERBIA XI (4-2-3-1): Stojkovic; Kolarov, Tosic, Milenkovic, Ivanovic; Matic, Milivojevic; Ljajic (Kostic 70’), Milinkovic-Savic, Tadic (Rukavina 83’); Mitrovic (Prijovic 90’).