The final matches in Groups G and H provided plenty of frustration for Fantasy managers to round off a difficult Gameround 3.
Heavy rotation across the whole tournament continued on Thursday night while owners of James Rodriguez (£9.0m) were dealt yet another fitness blow.
We’ve got all the goals, assists and World Cup Fantasy talking points as the Group Stages drew to a close.
READ NEXT: Our transfer tips and stats for the World Cup Fantasy knockout stages
ENGLAND 0-1 BELGIUM
TOP-SCORING PLAYERS:
- Thibaut Courtois (£6.0m) – 6 points
- Thomas Vermaelen (£5.5m) – 6 points
- Dedryck Boyata (£5.0m) – 6 points
- Adnan Januzaj (£5.0m) – 6 points
- Leander Dendoncker (£5.0m) – 5 points
- Youri Tielemans (£5.5m) – 5 points
With both teams having won their opening two matches, this Group G finale was a barren wasteland for most Fantasy managers.
England made eight changes to the side that beat Panama with just Jordan Pickford (£5.5m), John Stones (£5.5m) and Ruben Loftus-Cheek (£6.0m) keeping their places. Just two Belgians deployed against Tunisia remained in their starting eleven, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (£6.0m) and centre-back Dedryck Boyata (£5.0m).
The match itself had the feeling of a glorified friendly resulting in few chances.
England survived a goalmouth scramble in the first-half where Michy Batshuayi (£8.0m) nearly managed to score by kicking the ball out of Pickford’s hands.
Adnan Januzaj (£5.0m) got the only goal in the 51st minute curling an effort just over Pickford, who managed to brush the ball with his fingertips on the way in. Midfielder Youri Tielemans (£5.5m) was accredited with the assist.
Marcus Rashford (£8.0m), playing in a front two alongside Jamie Vardy (£8.5m), had a chance to equalise when he was through on goal but rather than square it to Loftus-Cheek he opted to shoot and forced an excellent save out of Courtois.
The defeat for England put them into a last sixteen tie with Colombia while Belgium will play Japan on Monday.
ENGLAND XI (3-1-4–2): Pickford; Cahill, Stones (Maguire 45’), Jones; Rose; Dier; Delph, Loftus-Cheek, Alexander-Arnold (Welbeck 79’); Vardy, Rashford
BELGIUM XI (3-4-2-1): Courtois; Vermaelen (Kompany 74’), Boyata, Dendoncker; Chadli, Dembele, Tielemans, T Hazard; Fellaini, Januzaj (Mertens 86’); Batshuayi
PANAMA 1-2 TUNISIA
TOP-SCORING PLAYERS:
- Wahbi Khazri (£6.5m) – 9 points
- Fakhreddine Ben Youssef (£5.5m) – 6 points
- Oussama Haddadi (£4.0m) – 5 points
Wahbi Khazri (£6.5m) had another impressive Fantasy display as Tunisia beat Panama in Group G’s dead-rubber fixture.
The Sunderland man grabbed a goal and an assist as his country came from behind to win only their second ever World Cup match, their first since 1978.
Tunisia dominated the match, firing off 14 shots but conceded the first goal in the 33rd minute when Jose Luis Rodriguez’s (£5.0m) shot was turned into his own net by Yassine Mariah.
Fakhreddine Ben Youssef (£5.5m) tapped in the equaliser after Khazri flashed a low ball across the penalty area.
Khazri himself got the winner in the 66th minute pouncing on an Oussama Haddadi (£4.0m) cross at the far post.
PANAMA XI (4-5-1): Penedo; Ovalle, R Torres (Tejada 56’), Escobar, Machado; Gomez, Godoy, Avila (Arroyo 81’), Rodriguez, Barcenas; G Torres (Cummings 45’)
TUNISIA XI (4-3-3): Mathlouthi; Nagguez, Meriah, Bedoui, Haddadi; Sassi (Badri 45’), Skhiri, Chaalali; F. Ben Youssef, Khazri (Srarfi 89’), Sliti (Khalil 77’)
JAPAN 0-1 POLAND
TOP-SCORING PLAYERS:
- Jan Bednarek (£4.5m) – 12 points
- Lukasz Fabianski (£5.0m) – 7 points
- Rafal Kurzawa (£6.0m) – 6 points
- Kamil Glik (£5.5m) – 6 points
- Artur Jedrzejczyk (£5.0m) – 6 points
- Bartosz Bereszynski (£4.5m) – 6 points
Perhaps the biggest Fantasy storylines from this match surrounded those who didn’t start, rather than those who did.
With Poland virtually deserted by McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy players, only a small percentage of them were able to capitalise on Jan Bednarek’s (£4.5m) winning goal.
The big story was that Takashi Inui (£4.5m) was left on the bench initially, manager Akira Nishino hoping to avoid him picking up another booking that would rule him out of the last sixteen round.
Shinji Kagawa (£6.5m) also didn’t start the match either.
Japan had some chances early on with Yoshinori Muto’s (£5.0m) great shot from distance parried by Lukasz Fabianski (£5.0m) in the 13th minute.
But Poland took the lead just after the hour-mark as Southampton defender Bednarek got his first international goal.
A free-kick from Rafal Kurzawa (£6.0m) was played into the back post where Bednarek latched onto it and put it in the net.
Nishino responded to going behind by bringing on Inui, goal-scorer and assister for Japan in Gameround 2, while Kagawa remained on the bench.
However, a goal in Senegal’s match meant that Japan only needed to avoid conceding another goal.
That meant the end of their match descended into nothing more than a training exercise, neither side attempting to do anything other than pass the ball around the back.
JAPAN XI (4-4-2): Kawashima; Nagatomo, Makino, Yoshida, H Sakai; Usami (Inui 64’), Yamaguchi, Shibasaki, G Sakai; Okazaki (Osako 47’), Muto (Hasebe 81’).
POLAND XI (4-2-3-1): Fabianski; Jedrzejczyk; Bednarek, Glik, Bereszynski; Goralski, Krychowiak; Kurzawa (Peszko 80′), Zielinski (Teodorczyk 79′), Grosicki; Lewandowski.
SENEGAL 0-1 COLOMBIA
TOP-SCORING PLAYERS:
- Yerry Mina (£5.0m) – 12 points
- David Ospina (£5.5m) – 7 points
- Juan Fernando Quintero (£5.5m) – 6 points
- Davinson Sanchez (£5.5m) – 6 points
- Santiago Arias (£5.5m) – 6 points
- Johan Mojica (£4.5m) – 5 points
Yerry Mina (£5.0m) registered a second successive double-figure haul as Colombia beat Senegal to top Group H.
The Barcelona man headed in the winning goal in the second-half and also kept a clean sheet. His current overall tournament score of 24 is bettered only by Sweden’s Andreas Granqvist (£5.0m) and England’s Harry Kane (£11.0m) with 25 and 26 respectively. Mina is also the second-best for value, coming in at 4.2 points per million.
There was also more Fantasy delight for owners of Juan Fernando Quintero (£5.5m) as he got the assist for Mina’s header, his third goal-involvement in three matches.
However, there was disappointment for James Rodriguez (£9.0m) owners, 11.5 percent of those playing McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy, as he was subbed off in the 30th minute with a knock. He is now considered a doubt for Tuesday’s last sixteen meeting with England.
Colombia still look like they could offer some value in the knockout stages, even potentially without Rodriguez.
Quintero continued his fine form forcing a smart save from Khadim N’Diaye (£4.5m) in the 11th minute with an excellent free-kick.
Meanwhile, there was an incredible 17th minute last-ditch tackle by Davinson Sanchez (£5.5m) on Sadio Mane (£8.5m). It was initially given as a penalty by the referee, although it was immediately overturned by VAR.
SENEGAL XI (4-4-2): K N’Diaye; Sabaly (Wague 73’), Koulibaly, Sane, Gassama; Balde (Konate 80’), Gueye, Kouyate, Sarr; Niang (Sakho 85’), Mane.
COLOMBIA XI (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Mojica, D Sanchez, Mina, Arias; Uribe (Lerma 81’), C Sanchez; Rodriguez (Muriel 30’), Quintero, Cuadrado; Falcao (Borja 88’).
READ NEXT: Our transfer tips and stats for the World Cup Fantasy knockout stages
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.
