World Cup Fantasy: Draw opens up for Spain + Williams injury

It was all to play for in Group H on Friday evening, with four nations in with a shout of qualifying.

Spain predictably ended up progressing as group winners but upsetting the odds yet again were Cabo Verde, who avoided defeat for the third match running and made it through to the Round of 32 as runners-up.

For Uruguay and Saudi Arabia, however, it’s the end of the road. Finishing on just two points, Marcelo Bielsa’s side are on their way home despite finishing in third.

As a result, we’ll focus on just Spain and Cabo Verde in these notes, as the other two countries are a Fantasy irrelevance now.

URUGUAY 0-1 SPAIN

Goals: Baena
Assists: Llorente
Tackle bonus: Rodri, Pedri
Top point scorers: Llorente (12), Baena (10), Laporte, Cucurella, Cubarsi, Simon (all 7)

TEAM STATS

PLAYER STATS

SCOUT NOTES

This match will be remembered less for the forgettable 90 minutes of action than the post-match meltdown from Marcelo Bielsa, who followed his team in losing his cool.
It was a match short on goalmouth action, with Spain only registering six shots and Uruguay five. Neither side made it to 1.0 xG, while this was the first World Cup match in 24 years in which La Roja didn’t edge possession. In mitigation, Spain were all but through to the knockout stage before a ball was kicked against Uruguay, which perhaps explained the lack of urgency. It was also a rugged, physical contest, with Bielsa’s troops treading a fine disciplinary line – and eventually going down to 10 men in stoppage time.
No Spain player registered more than one shot or one key pass, with Mikel Oyarzabal ($8.1m) anonymous and Lamine Yamal ($10.0m) lacking end product. Fellow winger Alex Baena ($6.0m) wasn’t much better, and his match-winning strike owed a huge debt to a horrendous error from Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. Even boss Luis de la Fuente admitted there is work to be done from an attacking perspective, with a first-half blitz against Saudi Arabia the only time when the frontline has clicked:

“We had a fantastic half-hour against Saudi Arabia. Today, it was very difficult to string together three or four passes; it was practically impossible. And that’s what we need to focus on: making the ball move faster, at the speed we’re used to, and moving the ball around to create imbalances in different areas of the pitch. That’s a very important aspect. Defensively, I think we’re very strong, very solid.” – Luis de la Fuente

As the Spain boss mentioned above, however, it’s looking much better at the back. It’s three successive clean sheets for the defence, with Pau Cubarsi ($5.0m) particularly impressive against Uruguay. The reigning European champions have the best ‘expected’ defensive record in the tournament, with the sides directly below them all having played a game more:

The game might have come at a cost, however, with subs Yeremy Pino ($5.9m) and Nico Williams ($7.8m) succumbing to injury. Pino’s competition might be over.

“Yeremy Pino, I think he has a fracture. Well, we’ll see, we’ll wait until tomorrow. He might have an injury that prevents him from playing the rest of the season. And Nico Williams, we’ll see, he had some discomfort. We’ll see if he’s fully recovered by tomorrow and the extent of that discomfort.” – Luis de la Fuente

The Round of 32 draw will be finalised after tonight but the path to the semi-finals looks good for Spain, as the BBC’s ‘as it stands’ bracket below shows. Portugal might be replaced by Colombia in the knockout bracket, too. Fantasy managers will likely be loading up on Spanish assets with their unlimited transfers, then.