With Argentina, Portugal and Spain already falling by the wayside in the last 16, Fantasy managers will be hoping that Brazil can progress to the quarter-finals at the expense of Mexico in today’s 3pm kick-off.

Fantasy bosses receive only three free transfers before the next transfer deadline on Friday and, with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Isco, Sergio Ramos and Diego Costa already surplus to requirements in our squads, an early exit for the Selecao would cause untold misery for those without a wildcard left to deploy.

Marcelo (£6.5m), previously the most-owned player in the McDonald’s FIFA game, starts on the bench for Brazil today after his early withdrawal in the group stage match against Serbia. The Real Madrid defender, who was jettisoned by over 220,000 managers ahead of the round of 16 deadline, is still owned by 31.6% of Fantasy bosses.

Marcelo’s crown as the most popular Fantasy asset in the McDonald’s FIFA game has been taken by Philippe Coutinho (£9.2m), who is included in 54.7% of our squads. No midfielder has scored more Fantasy points than Coutinho at this World Cup: the Barcelona playmaker has scored on two occasions and registered an assist in his three appearances to date.

Neymar (£12.0m) began the tournament as the most popular forward in the McDonald’s FIFA game, though his ownership has dipped from an initial 33% to just over 21% now. Should Brazil make it through today’s test against Mexico, Neymar can surely expect to amass more owners given that the other two players in the circa-£12.0m price bracket – Ronaldo and Messi – are already on their way home.

Thiago Silva (£6.1m), Allison (£6.0m) and Casemiro (£5.5m) are the other three Brazilian players with double-digit ownerships: the trio is owned by 21.6%, 13% and 12.7% of Fantasy managers respectively.

Not a single Mexico player is owned by over 10% of those who are playing McDonald’s FIFA, with Guillermo Ochoa (£5.1m) the most popular asset on show for El Tri (9.1% of Fantasy bosses own the Mexican goalkeeper).

Hirving Lozano (£8.0m) is Mexico’s most-selected outfielder, sitting in 2.4% of our squads.

Those with Brazilian assets in their teams should be confident of attacking returns this afternoon: Mexico allowed the opposition more shots on goal (58) than any other nation in the group stage.

None of the 12 teams left in the tournament has had more shots in the penalty area (34) than Brazil, meanwhile. Tite’s side has allowed the opposition only three shots on target in this World Cup, to highlight their defensive solidity.

Brazil XI (4-3-3): Alisson; Fagner, Silva, Miranda, Filipe; Paulinho, Casemiro, Coutinho; Willian, Gabriel Jesus, Neymar

Mexico XI (4-3-3): Ochoa; Martinez, Ayala, Salcedo, Gallardo; Marquez, Herrera, Guardado; Vela, Lozano, Hernandez

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.