Three surprising results on day six of the World Cup ensured only a handful of differentials added to their Fantasy totals.
However, managers who reacted quickest to Russia’s big win over Saudi Arabia on opening night were rewarded.
We’ve got the round-up of the latest World Cup matches…
RUSSIA 3-1 EGYPT
TOP SCORERS:
Mohamed Salah (£8.5m) – 8 points
Denis Cheryshev (£5.5m) – 7 points
Artem Dzyuba (£8.0m) – 6 points
The 74,000+ World Cup Fantasy managers who signed Denis Cheryshev (£5.5m) for Gameround 2 were rewarded with another goal on Tuesday night.
Cheryshev scored the second in Russia’s surprise 3-1 win over Egypt, which all but guaranteed the hosts a place in the second round of the tournament. The Villarreal midfielder is now the top-scoring player on McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy game with 20 points.
He also now boasts the best points-per-million, over-taking Andreas Granqvist’s (£5.0m) score of 2.4 with one of 3.6.
Just as they did against Saudi Arabia, the Russians appeared to play with attacking freedom and asked lots of questions of Egypt’s defence in the opening 20 minutes.
11 percent of managers had backed Ahmed Hegazy (£4.5m) and his defensive colleagues to keep a clean sheet in this match after they had kept Uruguay out for nearly 90 minutes.
However, an Ahmed Fathy (£5.0m) own-goal in the 47th minute put Russia in front and appeared to completely deflate the Egyptians.
12 minutes later defender Mario Fernandes (£5.0m) was able to get all the way around the back on Egypt’s left flank and his pull-back was swept into the net by Cheryshev, who now has three goals at the tournament.
Shortly after Artem Dzyuba (£8.0m) netted his second of the World Cup as he took down Ilya Kutepov’s (£4.5m) direct free-kick.
World Cup Fantasy managers will have to decide whether or not to invest in the Russians who have a great deal of momentum.
However, their next two fixtures are expected to be more difficult than meetings with Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
It’s Uruguay next up in the Group Stage and is likely to be one of either Spain or Portugal in the Round of 16.
Unfortunately for those invested in Mohamed Salah (£8.5m), either on Fantasy or emotionally, it was a night that did not entirely live up to its billing.
However, there was a silver lining as Salah got his first ever World Cup goal from the penalty spot. He won the spot-kick himself after being fouled by Roman Zobnin (£5.5m) taking his match total to eight points.
With rivals Saudi Arabia up next, who conceded five goals to the Russians, I think we can expect more goals from Salah in Gameround 3.
RUSSIA (4-2-3-1): Akinfeev; Fernandes, Kutepov, Ignashevich, Zhirkov (Kudryashov 86’); Gazinskiy, Zobnin, Golovin, Cheryshev (Kuzyaev 74’), Samedov; Dzyuba (Smolov 79’).
EGYPT XI (4-2-3-1): El-Shenawy; Abdel Shafy, Hegazy, Gabr, Fathy; Hamed, Elneny (Warda 64’); Trezeguet (Sobhi 68’), El Said, Salah; Mohsen (Kahraba 82’).
COLOMBIA 1-2 JAPAN
TOP SCORERS:
Shinji Kagawa (£6.5m) – 7 points
Juan Fernando Quintero (£5.5m) – 6 points
Yuya Osaka (£6.5m) – 6 points
World Cup Fantasy managers were left largely frustrated by Tuesday’s meeting between Colombia and Japan.
The 13.3% of managers with James Rodriguez (£9.0m) in their squads were left in the lurch when it was revealed he had not passed a late fitness test and had been named on the bench.
The game itself started in frenetic fashion with Carlos Sanchez (£4.5m) conceding a penalty in the third minute for his out-stretched arm in the box, and subsequently being red-carded.
The Colombian midfielder was owned by 17.7% of managers for the match and he rewarded them with an awful match score of -3.
Shinji Kagawa (£6.5m) coolly dispatched the spot-kick to score his second goal in as many starts since returning from injury.
To make matters worse for those invested in Colombia, the 3.8% of managers in possession of Juan Cuadrado (£8.0m) watched him get subbed off in the 31st minute, replaced by Wilmar Barrios (£4.5m), presumably for tactical reasons.
Juan Fernando Quintero (£5.5m) levelled things up in the 39th minute with a wonderfully executed free-kick from the edge of the box. He rolled the ball under the wall and it crept over Eiji Kawashima’s (£4.5m) line, much to his displeasure.
Despite Rodriguez finally coming on just short of the hour-mark, Japan were the better side after his introduction. Their second-half substitute Keisuke Honda (£6.0m) was much more influential, providing the assist for the winner.
The former AC Milan man’s corner was turned into the net by the head of striker Yuya Osako (£6.5m), who had started ahead of Shinji Okzaki (£6.0m).
COLOMBIA XI (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Mojica, Murillo, Davinson Sanchez, Arias; Carlos Sanchez, Lerma; Izquierdo (Bacca 70’), Quintero (Rodriguez 59’), Cuadrado (Barrios 31’); Falcao.
JAPAN XI (4-2-3-1): Kawashima; Nagatomo, Shoji, Yoshida, H Sakai; Hasebe, Shibasaki (Yamaguchi 80’); Inui, Kagawa (Honda 70’), Haraguchi; Osako (Okazaki 85’).
POLAND 1-2 SENEGAL
TOP SCORERS:
M’Baye Niang (£5.5m) – 6 points
Gregor Krychowiak (£5.5m) – 6 points
Kamil Grosicki (£7.5m) – 5 points
Senegal surpassed expectations to record a surprise 2-1 win over Poland on Tuesday, although the match was one which was largely overlooked by World Cup Fantasy managers.
There was disappointment for the 11% of World Cup Fantasy managers who backed Robert Lewandowski (£9.5m), who barely got a touch of the ball in the match.
Senegal took the lead towards the end of the first-half after Idrissa Gueye’s shot was deflected into the net by Thiago Cionek (£5.0m). The strike went down as an own-goal.
Their second was the result of poor communication on Poland’s part after a loose ball played back towards Wojciech Szczesny (£5.0m) by Grzegorz Krychowiak (£5.5m).
It was pounced upon by M’Baye Niang (£5.5m), who beat Szczesny to the ball to slot into an empty net.
It was only in the last 15 minutes of the match that Poland came to life but they were still unable to salvage any points.
Kamil Grosicki’s (£7.5m) 86th minute free-kick was guided into the net by Krychowiak to give the Poles hope but it proved too little too late.
POLAND XI (4-2-3-1): Szczęsny; Rybus, Pazdan, Cionek, Piszczek (Bereszynski 83’); Krychowiak, Zieliński; Grosicki, Milik (Kownacki 73’), Błaszczykowski (Bednarek 46’); Lewandowski
SENEGAL XI (4-4-1-1): K N’Diaye; Sabaly, Kouyaté, Sané, Wagué; Niang (Konate 75’), Gueye, A N’Diaye (Kouyate 87’), Sarr; Mané; Diouf (N’Doye 62’).
World Cup Data
We’re delighted to offer World Cup data as an early addition to our regular season offering to help those playing Fantasy games over the summer.
We’ve secured Opta data, not only for the tournament itself, which begins on June 14 but also from the Qualifying Rounds for Europe and South America and for international friendlies involving the participating nations. This includes all the matches played right up to the tournament kick-off.
Just to stress, this World Cup offering comes packaged with the regular Fantasy Football Scout membership.
Check out this new trailer previewing the World Cup content below…
McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy
Join our McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy league ‘FantasyFootballScout’ using the code: HEWJPVYR
Fantasy iTeam
Fantasy Football Scout is supporting Fantasy iTeam, a free World Cup game available on a number of mobile devices, including iPhone, iPad, iPodTouch and Android. We have an official Fantasy Football Scout League open to UK users only, with a £1000 of Amazon vouchers to give out, split between the top three performers. There’s also the small matter of £10k worth of prizes available in the main competitions: Overall World Championship and Manager of the Gameround.
Click here for details and here to sign up.
Our League name is Fantasy Football Scout and the pin is 1887.
Please note, users must be over 18 and based in the UK to join our league.
