A fifth of World Cup Fantasy managers are hoping that Lionel Messi (£12.0m) will get his first points of the tournament against Croatia tonight.
The Barcelona man’s total score so far is zero after his Gameround 1 penalty was saved by Iceland goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson (£5.0m)
Despite that miss, Messi still sits in 21.8 percent of Fantasy squads. With him being the only Argentina player to find the net in their final six qualifiers, there seems to be no preferred cheaper alternative within their squad as far as Fantasy managers are concerned.
It was Sergio Aguero (£10.0m) who found the net in their opening match but he is owned by just 2.2 percent. Paolo Dybala (£8.0m), who is not assured of a start has more than the Manchester City man with 2.8.
There is still some interest in Argentina’s defence, even though they have just clean sheets in their last five matches, with a goal conceded tally of 11. Nicolas Otamendi (£6.0m) has 7.7 percent ownership while 4.5 percent opted for goalkeeper Willy Caballero (£5.0m).
There will also be some focus on Maximiliano Meza (£5.5m) who created more chances in Gameround 1 than any other midfielder (five).
However, the ownership figures tell us that more Fantasy managers are confident of a Croatia clean-sheet than an Argentina one. Liverpool centre-back Dejan Lovren (£5.0m) is the most popular player in Zlatko Dalic’s squad, owned by 8.3 percent. That’s also more than the amount currently in possession of Otamendi.
Designated penalty-taker Luka Modric (£9.0m) sits in 7.1 percent of squads.
ARGENTINA XI (3-4-2-1): Caballero; Tagliafic, Otamendi, Mercado; Acuna, Perez, Mascherano, Salvio; Meza, Messi; Aguero.
CROATIA XI (4-2-3-1): Subasic; Strinic, Vida, Lovren, Vrsaljko; Brozovic, Rakitic; Rebic, Modric, Perisic; Mandzukic
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, 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.
