Russia suffered their heaviest ever World Cup loss just two matches after recording one of their best ever wins in the competition.
Their 3-0 defeat at the hands of Uruguay on Monday will surely quell interest in their Fantasy players as they head into a second round match-up with Spain.
Meanwhile, Uruguay finally lived up to their potential after two flat performances in their two opening matches.
URUGUAY 3-0 RUSSIA
TOP SCORING PLAYERS
- Luis Suarez (£10.5m) – 6 points
- Edinson Cavani (£9.5m) – 6 points
- Fernando Muslera (£5.5m) – 6 points
- Diego Godin (£5.5m) – 6 points
- Martin Caceres (£5.5m) – 6 points
- Sebastian Coates (£5.0m) – 6 points
It was a disastrous afternoon for Denis Cheryshev (£5.5m) owners on Monday as Russia failed their first real test of the World Cup.
Having found the net three times in his opening two fixtures, Cheryshev scored an own-goal and was substituted in the first-half after Igor Smolnikov (£4.5m) was sent off. His score for Gameround 3 was minus one after being the most transferred in player (175,000+ new owners).
Luis Suarez (£10.5m) opened the scoring from a free-kick in the 10th minute, after Rodrigo Bentancur (£5.0m) was fouled on the edge of the penalty area. The Barcelona man fired the set-piece straight into the bottom right-hand corner, thanks to Sergei Ignashevich (£4.5m) clearing Edinson Cavani (£9.5m) out of the wall.
It was Diego Laxalt’s (£5.0m) shot from outside the box which took a huge deflection from Cheryshev on its way into the net. Initirially the Uruguay man was accredited with the goal but later in the half it was confirmed Cheryshev would be given the own-goal.
That came through after Cheryshev had been replaced by Mario Fernandes (£5.0m) in the aftermath of Smolnikov’s sending off. He was shown a second yellow card in the 36th minute for a foul on Laxalt.
Russia offered more threat in the second half although Fernando Muslera (£5.5m) was only forced into one save due to the strong defensive work of Diego Godin (£5.5m).
Uruguay rounded off the scoring late-on with Cavani finally getting his first goal of the tournament, after 12 unsuccessful attempts. Godin’s header from a corner was well-saved by Akinfeev but Cavani was on-hand to knock in the rebound.
Aleksandr Golovin (£6.5m) did not feature in the match despite starring in both of Russia’s previous wins.
URUGUAY XI (3-5-2): Muslera; Coates, Godin, Caceres; Laxalt, Torreira, Bentancur (De Arrascaeta 63’), Vecino, Nandez (Rodriguez 73’); Suarez, Cavani (Gomez 93’).
RUSSIA XI (4-2-3-1): Akinfeev; Kudryashov, Kutepov, Ignashevich, Smolnikov; Gazinskiy (Kuzyaev 46’), Zobnin; Cheryshev (Fernandes 38’), Aleksey Miranchuk (Smolov 60’), Samedov; Dzyuba.
SAUDI ARABIA 2-1 EGYPT
TOP SCORING PLAYERS
- Essam El-Hadary (£4.5m) – 7 points
- Salman Al-Faraj (£5.0m) – 7 points
- Mohamed Salah (£8.5m) – 6 points
- Abdallah El Said (£6.0m) – 5 points
- Abdullah Otayf (£5.0m) – 5 points
Owners of Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary (£4.5m) were delighted with an impressive eight-point haul even though his side were defeated by Saudi Arabia. The 45-year-old saved a Fahad Al-Muwallad (£6.5m) penalty in the first-half and also an additional two points for saves.
Meanwhile Mohamed Salah (£8.5m) pulled in six points but could have easily added more to his tally as he missed a sitter in the first half. Having opened the scoring by chipping over the goalkeeper from an Abdallah El Said (£6.0m) pass in the 22nd minute, he was put clean through again moments after and dragged wide.
At the end of the half Egypt conceded two penalties. The first was given away for handball by Ahmed Fathy (£5.0m) but El-Hadary saved Al-Muwallad’s effort.
Shortly after, Ali Gabr (£4.5m) was adjudged to have bundled Al-Muwallad over and this time Salman Al-Faraj (£5.0m) slotted home.
Saudi Arabia were the more exciting side in the second-half and got their deserved winner in stoppage time when Salem Al-Dawsari (£5.0m) lashed home after a flick-on from Abdullah Otayf (£5.0m).
SAUDI ARABIA XI (4-3-2-1): Al-Mosilem; Osama Hawsawi, Al-Burayk, Yasser, M Hawsawi; Al-Faraj, Bahbir (Aseri 65’), Otayf; Al-Mogahwi, Al-Dawsari; Al-Muwallad (Al-Shehri 79’).
EGYPT XI (4-2-3-1): El-Hadary; Abdel Shafy, Hegazy, Gabr, Fathy; Hamed, Elneny; Trezeguet (Kahraba 81’), Said (Warda 45), Salah; Mohsen (Sobhi 64’).
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.
