We round up the key Fantasy talking points from Tuesday’s two World Cup fixtures in our Scout Notes summary.
The graphics and numbers in this article are from our Premium Members Area, which now includes all Opta player and team data from every World Cup game.
MOROCCO 0–0 SPAIN
(Morocco won 3-0 on penalties)
Morocco dumped Spain out of the World Cup 3-0 on penalties after their last-16 tie ended goalless.
As a result, the Moroccans will meet Portugal in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
Despite all of Spain’s possession (78%), it was Morocco who created the game’s best chances, with substitute Walid Chaddira ($5.0m) scuffing his effort straight at Unai Simon.
However, their outstanding defensive displays have been the key reason why they have progressed this far, having kept clean sheets against Croatia, Belgium and now Spain.
In fact, only an own goal has breached their defence at the World Cup so far:
| Clean sheets | Goals conceded | |
| Morocco | 3 | 1 |
| England | 3 | 2 |
| Brazil | 2 | 2 |
| Croatia | 2 | 2 |
| Netherlands | 2 | 2 |
| Argentina | 2 | 3 |
| Portugal | 1 | 5 |
| France | 0 | 4 |
MOROCCO OPTIONS FOR THE QUARTER-FINALS
Morocco XI (4-3-3): Bounou; Hakimi, Aguerd (El Yamiq 84), Saiss, Mazraoui (Allah 82); Amrabat, Ounahi (Benoun 120), Amallah (Cheddira 82); Ziyech, Boufal (Ezzalzouli 66), En-Nesyri (Sabiri 82)
Spain XI (4-3-3): Simon; Llorente, Rodri, Laporte, Alba (Balde 98); Busquets, Gavi (Soler 63), Pedri; Torres (Williams 75), Olmo (Fati 98), Asensio (Morata 63)
PORTUGAL 6-1 SWITZERLAND
- Goals: Goncalo Ramos x3, Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro, Rafael Leao | Manuel Akanji
- Assists: Joao Felix x2, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Dalot, Ramos, Guerreiro | Xherdan Shaqiri
Goncalo Ramos ($6.5m) scored an excellent hat-trick as Portugal thrashed Switzerland to advance into the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
With Cristiano Ronaldo ($10.0m) dropped, the 21-year-old stepped up with a whopping 21-point haul in the official FIFA game, moving him up to fourth in the overall forward standings, despite playing for just 104 minutes.
On the night, Ramos racked up six goal attempts, five shots inside the box and three big chances, also providing an assist.
He’s hard to fit in, but as far as differentials for Matchday 5 go, they don’t come much bigger than Ramos, with his ownership sitting at just 0.2% at the time of writing.
As for Portugal, it was a real statement performance in the absence of Ronaldo, with Raphael Guerreiro ($5.0m) – who started over Joao Cancelo ($6.0m) at left-back – and Joao Felix ($8.0m) each chipping in with two attacking returns.
One of the key differences tonight was their quality in front of goal: Fernando Santos’ side had 15 shots, with nine on target and five deemed ‘big chances’ by Opta. For context, the latter figure is more than they managed against South Korea and Uruguay combined in their previous two outings.
PORTUGAL OPTIONS FOR THE QUARTER-FINALS
Portugal XI (4-3-3): Costa; Dalot, Pepe, Dias, Guerreiro; Carvalho, Otavio (Vitinha 74), Bernardo (Neves 81); Fernandes (Leao 87), Felix (Ronaldo 74), Ramos (Horta 74)
Switzerland XI (3-1-4-2): Sommer; Rodriguez, Akanji, Schar (Comert 45); Fernandes, Sow (Seferovic 54), Xhaka, Freuler (Zakaria 54), Vargas (Okafor 66); Shaqiri, Embolo (Jashari 89)
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