Brazil face Costa Rica in the lunchtime kick-off, with the Selecao once again heavily backed by Fantasy managers despite their disappointing opening-match draw with Switzerland.
Philippe Coutinho (£9.0m) was the only Brazil player to deliver more than just appearance points in that match against the Swiss and the former Liverpool midfielder’s ownership has risen to over 33% as a result. No player had more goal attempts (four) than Coutinho in the aforementioned 1-1 draw.
Neymar (£12.0m) blanked in that fixture and his participation in this afternoon’s match looked in some doubt after he limped out of training on Tuesday, though the Paris Saint-Germain forward has now been passed fit to play.
Around a quarter of the Fantasy managers who owned Neymar have ditched him, however, with his ownership now hovering just above the 25% mark.
Marcelo (£6.5m) is still the most-owned player in McDonald’s FIFA, with 42.9% of Fantasy managers selecting the Real Madrid full-back in their squads. Kieran Trippier (six) and Joshua Kimmich (five) were the only defenders to create more chances than Marcelo (three) in the opening round of group matches.
Gabriel Jesus‘ (£9.0m) ownership has dipped below the 10% mark after his blank against the Swiss, while over 8% of managers still own £6.0m-rated goalkeeper Allison.
Keylor Navas (£5.0m) is the only Costa Rican player with any real Fantasy investment: the Real Madrid goalkeeper is owned by 6.8% of Fantasy managers, who will presumably be banking on save points, rather than a clean sheet, from Navas this afternoon.
The Starting Line-ups
BRAZIL XI (4-3-3): Alisson; Marcelo, Joao Miranda, Thiago Silva, Wagner; Paulinho, Casemiro, Coutinho; Neymar, Gabriel Jesus, Willian.
Costa Rica XI (3-4-2-1): Navas; Acosta, Gonzalez, Duarte; Oviedo, Guzman, Borges, Gamboa; Venegas, Ruiz; Urena.
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.
