The two most popular players in the Gameround 2 transfer market both rewarded their new owners on World Cup day seven.
Despite a distinct lack of goals across the three matches there was still cause to celebrate for World Cup Fantasy managers invested in defensive assets.
We’ve got all the goals, assists and other talking points from the latest action in Russia.
PORTUGAL 1-0 MOROCCO
TOP SCORING PLAYERS:
- Rui Patricio (£6.0m) – 7 points
- Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.0m) – 6 points
- Joao Moutinho (£7.5m) – 6 points
- Pepe (£6.0m) – 6 points
- Cedric (£5.5m) – 6 points
- Jose Fonte (£5.5m) – 6 points
- Raphael Guerreiro (£5.5m) – 6 points
Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.0m) continued his impressive start to the 2018 World Cup by scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win over Morocco.
The Real Madrid man got his fourth goal of the tournament in just the fifth minute when he connected a header with Joao Moutinho’s (£7.5m) cross. He is now the top-scoring World Cup Fantasy player again, with 22 points.
Ronaldo also had a chance to register an assist in the 39th minute after he sent strike partner Goncalo Guedes (£7.5m) through on goal. However, the PSG man’s shot was saved by Munir Mohamedi (£4.5m) when he really should have scored.
Surprisingly, Morocco were the more attacking side in the meeting as they needed to get a positive result to avoid elimination. They took the game to Portugal in the opening period although they lacked some conviction in the final third.
There were some promising signs as Nordin Amrabat (£6.0m) comfortably won the battle against Raphael Guerreiro (£5.5m) on Morocco’s right flank. Then on the brink of half-time, Younes Belhanda’s (£5.5m) flick-on from a corner was nearly met at the back-post by Medhi Benatia (£5.0m).
In the second-half Morocco pushed on and asked more questions of the Portuguese defence, forcing an incredible save from new Wolves sigining Rui Patricio (£6.0m).
However, Herve Renard’s men couldn’t find a breakthrough and were subsequently knocked out of the tournament.
Portugal XI: Patricio; Cedric, Pepe, Fonte, Guerreiro; William, Moutinho (A Silva 88’), Joao Mario (Bruno Fernandes 70’), B Silva (Martins 59’); Guedes, Ronaldo
Morocco XI: Mohamedi; Dirar, Da Costa, Benatia, Hakimi; El Ahmadi (Fajr 85’), Boussoufa, Belhanda, N. Amrabat, Ziyech; Boutaib (El Kaabi 69’)
URUGUAY 1-0 SAUDI ARABIA
TOP SCORING PLAYERS:
- Fernando Muslera (£5.5m) – 7 points
- Luis Suarez (£10.5m) – 6 points
- Carlos Sanchez (£7.5m) – 6 points
- Diego Godin (£5.5m) – 6 points
- Jose Gimenez (£5.5m) – 6 points
- Martin Caceres (£5.5m) – 6 points
- Guillermo Varela (£4.5m) – 6 points
Only Fantasy managers invested in Uruguay’s defence and Luis Suarez (£10.5m) were left happy after a match that failed to live up to its billing.
After Saudi Arabia were trounced 5-0 by Russia in their opening match there were high hopes for the attacking players available in Oscar Tabarez’s squad.
However, they scored just the one goal in the end as Uruguay continued to get results without the sparkle many expected pre-tournament.
Suarez put Uruguay in front from their first corner of the match, as La Celeste added yet another set-piece goal to their records. This was their second in two matches at the tournament, after netting 11 from 18 in qualifying. Carlos Sanchez’s (£7.5m) cross went past the advancing Diego Godin (£5.5m) and the out-stretched arms of goalkeeper Mohammed Owais (£4.0m), falling to the Barcelona man on the back post.
Edinson Cavani (£9.5m) was particularly disappointing, missing out several chances to score. Despite having nine attempts on goal at this tournament, he is yet to find the net.
Taissir Al-Jassam (£5.5m) had to come out of the game with a hamstring injury in the 41st minute after he shaped to shoot.
URUGUAY XI (4-4-2): Muslera; Caceres, Godin, Gimenez, Varela; Rodriguez (Laxalt 59’), Betancur, Vecino (Torreira 59’), Sanchez (Nandez 82’); Suarez, Cavani.
SAUDI ARABIA XI (4-1-4-1): Owais; Shahrani, Albulayhi, Osama Hawsawi, Burayk; Otayf; Al-Dawsari, Al-Jassam (Al-Moqahwi 44’), Al-Faraj, Bahbir (Kanno 76’); Al-Muwallad (Al-Sahlawi 78’).
IRAN 0-1 SPAIN
TOP SCORING PLAYERS:
- Deigo Costa (£9.0m) – 6 points
- David De Gea (£6.0m) – 6 points
- Sergio Ramos (£6.5m) – 6 points
- Jordi Alba (£6.5m) – 6 points
- Gerard Pique (£6.0m) – 6 points
- Dani Carvajal (£5.5m) – 6 points
Diego Costa (£9.0m) rewarded the 94,000+ World Cup Fantasy managers who signed him for Gameround 2 by scoring his third goal of the tournament.
The former Chelsea man netted a brace against Portugal in Spain’s opening match causing him to be the second-most signed player for the second round of matches, behind only Ronaldo (132,000+ new owners).
It was a tough encounter for Spain, though, as Iran spent most of the meeting sat deep inside their own penalty box.
Mananger Fernando Hierro made two changes from the side that drew 3-3 with Portugal. Dani Carvajal (£5.5m) recovered from the injury picked up in the Champions League final to replace Nacho (£5.5m). A more attacking switch was made in midfield as Lucas Vazquez (£6.0m) came in for Koke (£6.0m).
Wave after wave of Spanish possession and attack was battled away by Carlos Queiroz’s side, who had the former World champions a little nervy whenever they broke.
In the second-half Iran survived a goalmouth scramble but were desperately unlucky in the 54th minute when Costa got his goal.
Andres Iniesta (£8.0m) played a through-ball into the Atletico Madrid striker before a tackle saw it bounce off Costa and go into Ali Beiranvand (£4.5m)’s goal.
Iran gallantly persevered and found the back of the net themselves in the 62nd minute when Saeid Ezatolahi (£5.0m) stabbed home from a free-kick. However, both the lines-man and the VAR officials confirmed that he had strayed offside.
Iran continued to throw bodies forward but could not find the breakthrough. In the end it was joy for those invested in the Spanish defence with Sergio Ramos (£6.5m) and David De Gea (£6.0m) on 20.8% and 15.5% ownership respectively.
On the injury front, Iran captain Hajsafi sustained a knock in the first-half but managed to solider on before being replaced by Milad Mohammadi in the 69th minute.
IRAN XI (4-2-3-1): Beiranvand; Hajsafi (Mohammadi 69’), Pouraliganji, Hosseini, Ramin; Ezatolahi, Omid; Amiri (Ghoddos 86’), Mehdi, Ansarifard (Jahanbakhsh 74’); Sardar.
SPAIN XI (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Alba, Ramos, Pique, Carvajal; Iniesta (Koke 71’), Busquets; Vazquez (Asensio 80’), Isco, D Silva; Costa (Rodrigo 89’).
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.
5 years, 10 months agoTough to decide whether to WC with no knowledge of potential price rises....Say Ronaldo goes up to 13 that's 20% of the extra budget on 1 player! Say they only bump up slightly, hello wasted WC!