Russia entertain Spain in today’s first last-16 tie, which kicks off at 3pm in Moscow.
The hosts’ excellent start to the tournament, in which they scored eight goals in their first two matches, was halted by a 3-0 defeat to Uruguay in their final group fixture.
Now they face the unenviable task of having to overcome Spain if they are to progress to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time since the break-up of the Soviet Union.
The Spanish were far from convincing in the group stage, though. No team who qualified for the knockout rounds conceded more goals than Fernando Hierro’s side and the 2010 World Cup winners had to rely on an Iago Aspas stoppage-time strike to rescue a 2-2 draw against already-eliminated Morocco in their final group match.
Fantasy managers have backed Spain heavily, however, with Isco (£8.5m) the most-owned player on show this afternoon. The Real Madrid midfielder, who has had more touches in the opposition half (323) and final third (207) than any other player at the World Cup, has been selected by 34.9% of Fantasy managers.
Diego Costa (£9.1m) and Sergio Ramos (£6.5m) have also both been selected by over 20% of those who are playing McDonald’s FIFA, while David de Gea (£6.5m) and Dani Carvajal (£5.5m) – replaced by Nacho (£5.5m) in Fernando Hierro’s starting XI today – are the other two Spanish players to have double-digit ownerships.
An own-goal from Denis Cheryshev (£5.7m) in the defeat to Uruguay, coupled with no attacking returns and an early tactical substitution, has no doubt contributed to the three-goal Russian midfielder losing his place in well over 190,000 managers’ Fantasy teams.
Cheryshev, who hadn’t scored for the national team before the start of the World Cup, is the most-owned player in this Russian squad but is omitted from coach Stanislav Cherchesov’s starting XI today.
Budget midfielder Yury Gazinsky (£4.5m), who also starts on the bench, is the only other Russian player with an ownership of more than 10%.
Spain XI (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Nacho, Pique, Ramos, Alba; Busquets, Koke; Asensio, Isco; Silva; Diego Costa
Russia XI (5-4-1): Akinfeev; Fernandes, Kudryashov, Kutepov, Ignasevich, Zhirkov; Samedov, Kuzyaev, Golovin, Zobnin; Dzyuba
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.
