Dugout Discussion
27 June 2026 32 comments
FFScout Tom FFScout Tom
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Saturday morning sees the unpredictable Group G come to a conclusion with all four nations having a realistic chance of qualification.

Egypt, who have already booked their place in the next round, face Iran in Seattle. Meanwhile, Belgium take on New Zealand in Vancouver.

Both matches get underway at 04:00 BST.

TEAM NEWS

Jeremy Doku returns from paternity leave as is one of five changes with Belgium needing at least a point to qualify. Timothy Castagne, Arthur Theate, Hans Vanaken and Charles De Ketelaere also start. Thomas Meunier and Romelu Lukaku are among those to drop out.

New Zealand’s manager Darren Bazeley makes two alterations to the team that lost again Egypt last time out. Tyler Bindon and Ryan Thomas come in for Callum McCowatt and Michael Boxall.

Elsewhere, Trezeguet starts for Egypt. The former Aston Villa attacker scored off the bench in Round Two. Manchester City’s Omar Marmoush makes way, one of four changes for the Pharaohs.

As for Iran, they make two changes from the draw against Belgium. Milad Mohammadi and Mohammad Ghorbani are in from the start


LINE-UPS

Egypt XI: Shobeir, Hany, Rabia, Abdelmonem, Fatouh, Lasheen, Ashour, Ziko, Saber, Trezeguet, Salah

Subs: Abdelkarim, Adel, Alaa M, Alaa T, Attia, Dunga, El Shenawy, Hafez, Hassan, Ibrahim, Marmoush, Soliman, Zizo

Iran XI: Beiranvand, Rezaeian, Kanaani, Khalilzadeh, Nemati, Mohammadi, Ghoddos, Ghorbani, Ezatolahi, Mohebi, Taremi

Subs: Alipour, Cheshmi, Eckert, Ghaedi, Hajsafi, Hardani, Hosseini, Hosseinzadeh, Jahanbakhsh, Moghanlou, Niazmand, Razzaghinia, Torabi, Yousefi


New Zealand XI: Crocombe, Payne, Surman, Bindon, Cacace, Stamenic, Bell, Thomas, Singh, Just, Wood

Subs: Barbarouses, Bayliss, Boxall, De Vries, Elliot, McCowatt, Old, Paulsen, Pijnaker, Randall, Rogerson, Rufer, Smith, Waine, Woud

Belgium XI: Courtois, Castagne, Mechele, Theate, De Cuyper, Vanaken, Tielemans, Trossard, De Bruyne, Doku, De Ketelaere

Subs: De Winter, Fernandez-Pardo, Lammens, Lukaku, Lukebakio, Meunier, Moreira, Onana, Penders, Raskin, Saelemaekers, Seys, Witsel


FFScout Tom <p>Deputy General Manager. Forever chasing the top 10K. Chelsea fan.&nbsp;</p> Follow them on Twitter

32 Comments Login to Post a Comment
  1. Feanor
    • 17 Years
    2 months, 5 days ago

    Great use of VAR to correct a wrong decision.

  2. bso
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    2 months, 5 days ago

    Should I bring in Messi who is going to start on the bench, for 2 pt Gakpo?

    1. lilmessipran
      • 14 Years
      2 months, 5 days ago

      Yes, should get 45 mins..worst case you get 1 pt, can easily haul off the bench.

      1. bso
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        2 months, 5 days ago

        Thanks mate. Makes sense.

  3. lilmessipran
    • 14 Years
    2 months, 5 days ago

    Kdb goal

  4. FOREST FOREVER 2
    • 1 Year
    2 months, 5 days ago

    9 pt. goal for Just.

  5. FOREST FOREVER 2
    • 1 Year
    2 months, 5 days ago

    iran Goal. White House checking VAR.

    1. SpaceCadet
      • 12 Years
      2 months, 5 days ago

      Haha they don’t stand a chance

  6. JohnnyCroat
    • 11 Years
    2 months, 5 days ago

    Sheesh... that was a rough offside...

    1. FOREST FOREVER 2
      • 1 Year
      2 months, 5 days ago

      very Rough. I hope iran Still make the last 16.

  7. SpaceCadet
    • 12 Years
    2 months, 5 days ago

    Which chip would you play in R32? Have max cap, cs shield and qualification booster left.

    1. Freshy
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 16 Years
      2 months, 5 days ago

      qualification booster

      1. SpaceCadet
        • 12 Years
        2 months, 5 days ago

        Cheers

      2. FOREST FOREVER 2
        • 1 Year
        2 months, 5 days ago

        +1

    2. PartyTime
      • 5 Years
      2 months, 4 days ago

      CS shield

  8. fenixri
    • 10 Years
    2 months, 5 days ago

    Rmt R32 qualification booster

    Simon Martinez
    Medina Hakimi Johnston Dest Freeman
    Yamal Dembele Vini Manzambi Nmecha
    Messi Mbappe Haaland

  9. PartyTime
    • 5 Years
    2 months, 5 days ago

    VOZINHAAAAAA you beauty

  10. PartyTime
    • 5 Years
    2 months, 4 days ago

    Cape Verde haven't lost a world cup game 😆

    Spain, Uruguay & Saudi couldn't beat them. What a team! I swear I love Cape Verde. Hope they frustrate Argentina.

  11. Camzy
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 16 Years
    2 months, 4 days ago

    I have an ugly situation where I have too many returns in my team xD I have Saka on my bench with Scouting Bonus and my lowest scoring non-defender is Diomande with 7.

    Do you sub him in? I don't think I can hang around to wait for lineups since I will be out on a boat prior to kickoff.

    1. HVT
      • 15 Years
      2 months, 4 days ago

      Personally I’d hold.

    2. z13
      • 1 Year
      2 months, 4 days ago

      You can sub in?

  12. JabbaWookiee
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    2 months, 4 days ago

    Why won’t it let me change my captain to Kane?

    1. Camzy
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 16 Years
      2 months, 4 days ago

      Is he your VC? You're stuck if that's the case and you have no one else you can move the VC to.

      1. JabbaWookiee
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 12 Years
        2 months, 4 days ago

        Ah ok - yeah he’s my vice. Damnit

  13. karam94
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    2 months, 4 days ago

    Thought I'd live in FPL history a little & bring in Salah for this match day. Got me 1 point.

    Should've gone down a different side of FPL history & gone Trossard instead

    1. Camzy
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 16 Years
      2 months, 4 days ago

      Hehe. I made the right call with double Belgium attack. Just wish I'd been braver and capped Trossard over KDB.

  14. madhatter_129
    • 3 Years
    2 months, 4 days ago

    Team for round of 32, with qualification booster active:

    Pickford - Martinez
    Van Hecke - Brown - Kounde - Douglas - Cucurella
    Nmecha - Vinicius - Olise - Summerville - Yamal
    Mbappe - Messi - Kane

    Exact money, so any upgrades would require a matching downgrade. How does it look?

    1. Camzy
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 16 Years
      2 months, 4 days ago

      Summerville has come off the bench twice in the last two games and you're still willing to go there and against a really good Morocco team?

      1. madhatter_129
        • 3 Years
        2 months, 4 days ago

        Budget enabler, capable of scoring points even if off the bench. I don't mind taking a risk on one or two.

        1. Camzy
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 16 Years
          2 months, 4 days ago

          We don't really need budget enablers imo. They have given us too much money and cheap scouting bonus defenders from top teams (Veiga, Santos, Molina). You can have it all imo.

    2. HVT
      • 15 Years
      2 months, 4 days ago

      Decent different to mine tbh

  15. Camzy
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 16 Years
    2 months, 4 days ago

    This Ro16 team is interesting to build.

    Shobeir Martinez
    Cucurella D.Santos Ream Veiga Molina
    Olise Bruno Vini Sane KDB
    Mbappe Messi Kane

    I'm still looking at scouting bonus defense. I think Molina is nailed for the tournament now that he's fit and is the only Argentina defender under 5%. Medina potentially could be also but Tagliafico has always been preferred and was injured so I think Molina over Montiel is far more likely to last the rest of the tournament.

    Veiga is nailed in the PT defense alongside Dias. Also the cheapest and scouting bonus. Santos same for Brazil. Ream is also scouting bonus trying to sneak an early CS and then if he gets eliminated I might just leave that slot dead rather than try to fill it for the rest of the tournament. Perhaps I'm better off gambling on Canada's 3.5m starter to save that extra 0.4m but I like having at least one American - can see them progressing to the QFs and I think 0.4m won't kill me (famous last words)

    I'm wondering if it's better to have a 3.5m GK and just field Martinez for the rest of the tournament/replace your solo goalie rather than try and rotate them and spend 1.5m on like Simon or smth. Maybe I'm wrong. But it feels super safe to go Martinez until the QFs with an early shot with Shobeir cleanie vs Australia in Ro32 then solo Martinez. I can see the argument for finding the 1.5m and then getting Simon so you have two goalies probably until the QFs and maybe SF but that just seems really expensive and blocks potential outfield spots that you might want particularly for Spain.

    The attack is varied so I have captaincy options early. Eventually I think I'll end up cutting Kane + KdB > Yamal + Oyarzabal. I don't think it's worth doing now though because I don't see Spain as being very free scoring and these next two rounds England/Belgium will probably get more goals. Can use my FTs later to switch.