Rojo is Argentina saviour as Messi finally delivers Fantasy returns

Lionel Messi finally delivered Fantasy returns as his Argentina side scraped through to the second round of the World Cup.

Elsewhere there was heavy rotation for both France and Croatia while Peru left it too late to finally deliver on their pre-tournament promise.

We’ve got all the goals, assists and Fantasy talking points from the finales of Groups C and D…

NIGERIA 1-2 ARGENTINA

TOP SCORING PLAYERS

• Marcos Rojo (£5.5m) – 8 points
• Victor Moses (£7.0m) – 6 points
• Lionel Messi (£12.0m) – 5 points
• Gabriel Mercado (£5.5m) – 5 points
• Ever Banega (£7.0m) – 4 points

Marcos Rojo (£5.5m) was the unlikely hero for Argentina as they came back from the brink of World Cup elimination to beat Nigeria 2-1.

The Manchester United defender struck a spectacular 86th minute volley to seal the three points they needed to progress to the second round of the competition as Group D runners-up.

It was Lionel Messi (£12.0m) who opened the scoring, though, with his first goal of the World Cup. An excellent long-ball from Ever Banega (£7.0m) put Messi through, who took a touch away from the defender before hitting his shot back across goal to score in the 14th minute.

Nigeria equalised from the penalty spot in the 51st minute after Leon Balogun (£4.5m) was hauled down in the box by Javier Mascherano (£5.5m). Chelsea man Victor Moses (£7.0m) coolly dispatched the penalty past Franco Armani (£5.0m), who had started in the place of Willy Caballero (£5.0m). Also not in the starting line-up was Sergio Aguero (£10.0m) who was benched in favour of Gonzalo Higuain (£9.0m)

With the game level at 1-1, Argentina were staring at a first Group Stage exit since 2002. But Rojo’s late strike, assisted by a Gabriel Mercado (£5.5m) cross, did enough to give them a stay of execution. They now face France in the second round.

Nigeria XI (3-5-2): Uzoho; Omeruo (Iwobi 90’), Balogun, Ekong; Idowu, Etebo, Ndidi, Mikel, Moses; Musa (Nwankwo 92’), Iheanacho (Ighalo 45’).

Argentina XI (4-4-2): Armani; Mercado, Otamendi, Rojo, Tagliafico (Aguero 80’); Mascherano, Banega, Perez (Pavon 61’), Di Maria (Meza 72’); Messi, Higuain.

ICELAND 1-2 CROATIA

TOP SCORING PLAYERS

• Milan Badelj (£6.0m) – 10 points
• Gylfi Sigurdsson (£8.0m) – 7 points
• Ivan Perisic (£8.5m) – 6 points
• Josip Pivaric (£5.0m) – 5 points

Fantasy managers were hit by heavy rotation as Croatia made nine changes from the side that beat Argentina for a Gameround 3 meeting with Iceland.

The 13.4 percent invested in Dejan Lovren (£5.0m) were left disappointed to see that he had not made the starting line-up, his minutes restricted to a 20-minute cameo in which he gave away a penalty – although did not lose any points on McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy for it.

Meanwhile, Milan Badelj (£6.0m) came out of this 2-1 victory as the top-scoring player chalking up a goal and an assist.

After a goalless first-half, the Fiorentina midfielder opened the scoring, assisted by defender Josip Pivaric (£5.0m).

Gylfi Sigurdsson (£8.0m) netted 76th minute penalty after Lovren handled in the box but Croatia re-established their lead in the 90th minute.

Badelj provided the assist as Ivan Perisic (£8.5m) got his first goal of the tournament, which confirmed Iceland’s elimination.

Croatia topped the group with nine points and will face Denmark in the second round.

Iceland XI (4-4-1-1): Halldorsson; Saevarsson, Ingason, R. Sigurdsson (Sigurdarson 71’), Magnusson; Bjarnason (Traustason 90’), Gunnarsson, Hallfredsson, J Gudmundsson; G. Sigurdsson; Finnbogason (A Gudmundsson 85’).

Croatia XI (4-2-3-1): Kalinic; Jedvaj, Caleta-Car, Corluka, Pivaric; Badelj, Modric (Bradaric 65’); Perisic, Kovacic (Rakitic 82’), Pjaca (Lovren 69’); Kramaric.

DENMARK 0-0 FRANCE

TOP SCORING PLAYERS

• Kasper Schmeichel (£5.0m) – 7 points
• Steve Mandanda (£5.0m) – 6 points
• Djibril Sidibe (£5.5m) – 6 points
• Raphael Varane (£6.0m) – 6 points
• Presnel Kimpembe (£5.0m) – 6 points
• Simon Kjaer (£5.0m) – 6 points
• Andreas Christensen (£5.0m) – 6 points
• Henrik Dalsgaard (£4.5m) – 6 points
• Mathias Jorgensen (£5.0m) – 5 points

While casual viewers were largely sent to sleep by the first goalless draw of the 2018 World Cup, Fantasy managers were celebrating.

It was clean sheets all around for every defender who started the match, with one exception.

Owners of Lucas Hernandez (£5.0m) were left frustrated as he was substituted in the 49th minute and missed out on the shut-out.

Kasper Schmeichel’s (£5.0m) four saves in the match earned him an additional point making him the highest scorer of the fixture.

France manager Didier Deschamps made six changes from the side that beat Peru 1-0 with Steve Mandanda (£5.0m), Djibril Sidibe (£5.5m), Presnel Kimpembe (£5.0m), Steven N’Zonzi (£5.5m), Thomas Lemar (£8.0m) and Ousmane Dembele (£8.0m) coming in for Hugo Lloris (£6.0m), Samuel Umtiti (£6.0m), Benjamin Pavard (£4.5m), Paul Pogba (£9.0m), Blaise Matuidi (£7.5m) and Kylian Mbappe (£9.0m).

France XI (4-2-3-1): Mandanda; Sidibe, Varane, Kimpembe, Hernandez (Mendy 49’); Kante, N’Zonzi; Dembele, Griezmann (Fekir 67’), Lemar; Giroud (Mbappe 78’)

Denmark XI (3-4-3): Schmeichel; Kjaer, Christensen, Jorgensen; Dalsgaard, Delaney (Lerager 91’), Eriksen, Stryger; Braithwaite, Cornelius (Dolberg 74’), Sisto (Fischer 58’).

AUSTRALIA 0-2 PERU

TOP SCORING PLAYERS

• Paulo Guerrero (£7.5m) – 9 points
• Andre Carillo (£5.5m) – 6 points
• Christian Ramos (£5.0m) – 6 points
• Miguel Trauco (£5.0m) – 6 points
• Pedro Gallese (£4.5m) – 6 points
• Luis Advincula (£4.5m) – 6 points
• Anderson Santamaria (£4.5m) – 6 points

Paulo Guerrero (£7.5m) was the stand-out Fantasy asset as Peru recorded their first World Cup win in 40 years. The nation’s all-time top scorer registered both a goal and an assist.

Australia started the match on the front foot but were hit on the counter-attack by a plucky Peru. Yoshimar Yotun’s (£5.5m) long-ball forward found Guerrero in space on the left. His cross to the far side of the penalty box was hit first time by Andre Carrillo (£5.5m) and flew straight into the bottom left-hand corner of Mat Ryan’s (£4.5m) goal.

Guerrero finally got his first World Cup goal in the 51st minute after a deflection on a Christian Cueva (£6.0m) pass gave him the ball with his back to goal. Shooting on the turn from close-range he found the net to make it 2-0.

Cueva was initially awarded the assist by FIFA.com but it was removed minutes later when it was confirmed that Mile Jedinak (£6.0m) had got a touch on the pass before it reached Guerrero.

Elsewhere it was a first and final clean sheet for Peru’s defence at the World Cup.

Australia XI (4-2-3-1): Ryan; Risdon, Sainsbury, Milligan, Behich; Jedinak, Mooy; Leckie, Rogic (Irvine 71’), Kruse (Arzani 57’); Juric (Cahill 52’).

Peru XI (4-2-3-1): Gallese; Advincula, Ramos, Santamaria, Trauco; Tapia (Hurtado 63’), Yotun (Aquino 45’); Carrillo (Cartagena 78’), Flores, Cueva; Guerrero.

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 detailing 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.