Scout Notes

Another France win as Egypt struggle without Salah

France and Australia were in fine form in their latest World Cup friendlies while Egypt struggled in the absence of Mohamed Salah.

There was a discouraging result for South Korea while Tunisia demonstrated how hard they could make England work in their tournament opener.

We’ve got all the details of Friday’s World Cup friendlies from a Fantasy perspective.

FRANCE 3-1 ITALY

Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele strengthened their cases for inclusion in World Cup Fantasy teams on Friday night as they scored in France’s win over Italy.

Manager Didier Deschamps named a strong starting XI with his strength in depth showcased by the fact that Blaise Matuidi, Olivier Giroud and Thomas Lemar only featured from the bench.

Defender Samuel Umtiti netted the opener after Kylian Mbappe’s left-footed volley was well-saved by Salvatore Sirigu. The Barcelona centre-back tapped in the rebound.

N’Golo Kante nearly scored his second goal for France in the first half after a rasping effort from range cannoned off the post.

When Lucas Hernandez was fouled in the box, Griezmann converted the resulting penalty kick to make it 2-0.

After a fine performance, Dembele got his deserved goal in the second half with a chip over Sirigu.

However, while many of his team-mates put on impressive displays, Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba failed to have much of an impact on the match.

It was his return to the starting line-up after being benched for two of the last three international friendlies, but he received jeers from the home crowd on Friday night.

France XI (4-3-3): Lloris; Pavard, Rami, Umtiti, Gomez (Mendy 62’); Tolisso (Matuidi 77’), Kante, Pogba (N’Zonzi 86’); Mbappe (Thauvin 83’), Griezmann (Giroud 77’), Dembele (Lemar 71’).

EGYPT 0-0 COLOMBIA

Egypt showed their dependence on the injured Mohamed Salah as they failed to muster much in attack in a 0-0 draw with Colombia.

The South Americans enjoyed the lion’s share of chances in the match with James Rodriguez and Radamel Falcao going close, but they could not capitalise on their pressure.

Both sides demonstrated they will need to be more clinical when they begin their World Cup campaigns.

Hector Cuper’s Egypt seemed keen to play long through balls over Colombia’s defence but without Salah they lacked the pace the chase them down.

Despite keeping a clean sheet, goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shennawy (back-up to Essam El-Hedary), demonstrated some odd decision making, nearly costing his team a goal twice. Meanwhile, Ahmed Hegazi was hugely impressive at centre-back.

Ramadan Sobhi had the best chance for Egypt after a poor clearance from Spurs defender Davinson Sanchez but he could only fire straight at David Ospina.

Colombia, through Rodriguez and Brighton’s Jose Izquierdo, had two excellent chances to win late on but were both denied by El-Hedary, who came on a half-time.

EGYPT XI (4-2-3-1): El-Shenawy (El-Hedary 45’); Fathi, Hegazi, Sami, Abdel-Shadfy; Tarek Hamed, Morsy (Hussein 68’); Sobhi (Warda 66’), El-Said (Razek Fadlalla 80’), Trezeguet (El Mohamedy 57’); Mohsen (Abdel-Moneim Soliman 63’).

COLOMBIA XI (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Arias, Yerry Mina (Murillo 45’), Davinson Sanchez, Fabra (Mojica 45’); Carlos Sanchez, Uribe (Quintero 63’); Cuadrado (Izquierdo 45’), James Rodriguez, Muriel (Borja 81’); Falcao (Bacca 66’).

AUSTRALIA 4-0 CZECH REPUBLIC

Our chosen World Cup Fantasy ‘Key Target’ from Australia Mathew Leckie was the star man as they romped to a 4-0 victory over Czech Republic.

The Hertha Berlin right-winger scored twice to add to his three goals and five assists in qualifying. Meanwhile Andrew Nabbout also found the net for the Socceroos.

Robbie Kruse provided the assist for Leckie’s opener before Huddersfield Town midfielder Aaron Mooy put one up for his second.

Jakub Jugas’ own-goal made it 4-0 in the second half after a Milos Degenek cross.

Captain and penalty-taker Mile Jedinak was benched for the encounter after his role in the Championship play-off final defeat with Aston Villa last weekend. Tomi Juric and Tim Cahill were also left on the bench.

The Socceroos have now eight times across their four most recent friendlies and demonstrated a cutting edge streak which they will have to rely on if they are to beat the odds and emerge from Group C as underdogs.

AUSTRALIA XI (4-4-1-1): Ryan; Behich, Milligan, Sainsbury, Risdon (Degenek 76’); Kruse (Petratos 73’), Luongo, Mooy, Leckie (Arzani 84’); Rogic (Irvine 66’), Nabbout (MacLaren 61’).

SOUTH KOREA 1-3 BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA

South Korea have plenty of work to do before their World Cup opener against Sweden following a 3-1 defeat to Bosnia & Herzegovina on Friday night.

Edin Visca scored a hat-trick for the visitors, who will be encouraged in victory despite not qualifying for this summer’s finals.

The winger broke the deadlock in the 28th minute but Korea’s Jae-Sung Lee immediately replied, with Hee-Chan Hwang providing the assist.

Spurs’ Heung-min Son played the full 90 minutes but was largely ineffective and Swansea City’s Sung-Yeung Ki played at centre-back.

SOUTH KOREA XI (3-4-1-2): S Kim; Oh (Kwon 46’), Ki (S-W Kim 87’), Yun (Jung 75’); M Kim, Jung, Koo (Ju 75’), Y Lee; J Lee (Moon 80’); Son, Hwang (S-W Lee 80’).

TUNISIA 2-2 TURKEY

Tunisia were minutes away from their third friendly victory of 2018 before Turkey scored a late equaliser. But England’s first Group G opponents remain unbeaten in nine matches.

Everton’s Cenk Tosun opened the scoring in the 54th minute with a penalty kick but Anice Badri put Tunisia back on terms with a wonderful strike.

Tosun was sent off on the hour-mark after for arguing with supporters behind the dugout. Tunisia capitalised on the man advantage with 10 minutes left of the match as Ferjani Sassi put his side in front.

Caglar Soyuncu popped up in stoppage time to end the game 2-2.

TUNISIA XI (4-3-3): Hassen; Maaloul, Meriah, S Ben Yousseff, Bronn (Nagguez 76’); Sassi, Skhiri (Srarfi 70’), Khaoui (Ben Amor 53’); Sliti, F Ben Yousseff (Khalifa 75’), Badri.

World Cup previews by team

Group A Russia, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay

Group BIran, Morocco, Portugal, Spain

Group CAustralia, Peru

Our editor’s Fantasy World Cup tips as told to Proper Sport

69 Comments Post a Comment
  1. FFFrog
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44130553

    Reposted in a new, and more suitable, article.

    This quite neatly sums up my reservations with this France squad. Deschamps can never seem to pick the right squad at the right time, and if he starts Giroud through this World Cup I think this will be proven. They have a phenomenal squad but he is an average manager at best who makes more mistakes than most others. He consistently fails to get Pogba to play well, when that should be one of his priorities and his defence has consistent lapses that lead to them giving away poor goals. I think they will get out of the group, but only having been beaten by one of Peru or Denmark. They've lacked a clear or consistent goalscorer since the Euros, as shown by their top goalscorers in qualifying being Giroud and Griezmann with 4 apiece - if they start Dembele, Mbappe and Griezmann against Australia this gives them their best chance of success but I still don't see any of these players finishing the tournament with more than 2 goals each; it's just not how Deschamps gets them to play. Griezmann certainly won't live up to the 10m+ pricetag he's given in the Mcdonald's game and I will be steering clear.

    1. 32chickens
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      fishing?
      DM+G will all get more than 2 goals each
      But reservations respected

      1. Fantasy Gold
        • 9 Years
        5 years, 10 months ago

        France have a really good chance I reckon.

        Dunno why you think otherwise.

        Insane amount of talent and it looks like the manager has got them playing like a team finally.

    2. Karan14
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Agreed with this. Think after he fails to win the World Cup this year Zidane will take over.

    3. child of God
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Pretty much feel the same, getting the most out of pogba will be very key to how well they perform in the tournament

    4. Pumpkinhead - I'm ITK …
      • 14 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Giroud should be one of the first names on the team sheet. He scores goals he does his job well

      Top scorer in the world cup for me

      1. FFFrog
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        5 years, 10 months ago

        I love Gru - as a Chelsea fan and someone who captained his hattrick GW38 of the 2015/16 season I think he's great, but he doesn't fit into this side like Costa doesn't fit into the Spain side.

    5. noquarternt
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Peru will get annihilated by France.

      But one big team always has a shocker, so can't see why it won't be France (again).

    6. FFFrog
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      I'll put my reservations in context - I'm not writing France off, but I think that Spain, Germany, Brazil and Belgium are all going to have much better fantasy assets as teams that score more in easier groups - Denmark, Peru and it seems now Australia are all defensively well organised and have some quality players - France tend to play by exploiting defensive errors or weaknesses in their opposition that they'll struggle to find in these teams. The players are undoubtedly quality but looking at evidence from last night and in qualifying I think Giroud restricts how they play but Deschamps seems to rely on him. The team that beat Italy last night would have a chance of maybe reaching the semis but I think because of Deschamps love of rotation and love of stopping players playing creatively he's going to massively limit this team's potential, especially against well organised teams that sit back and absorb the pressure - not too much unlike Arsenal have been over large periods of time in the last 4/5 years.

  2. child of God
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    Which system would suit them best considering the strength in depth and individual quality that they've got?

  3. FPL_ANT
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    Has there been an article or a post on who the world cup penalty takers are?

    1. Mark
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 17 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Not yet but that’s an angle we should look at.

    2. Team Cruel
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Phil Jones for England while Kane will be on corners.

  4. Aurora Borealis?
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    Morning all.

    I’m trying to forward plan my transfers for the first 3 rounds.

    Of the top teams I think Spain v Portugal is the hardest fixture in the 1st round of games and England v Belgium is the hardest in the 3rd round, but who has the hardest in the 2nd round from this lot?

    France v Peru
    Argentina v Croatia
    Brazil v Costa Rica
    Germany v Sweden
    Belgium v Tunisia

    Appreciate it’s all a bit hypothetical at the moment as there will inevitably be cards/injuries.

    1. Fantasy Gold
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Argentina v Croatia

    2. Tommytour
      • 13 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Argentina

    3. Aurora Borealis?
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Cheers guys. Love a consistent response.

    4. noquarternt
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Croatia can beat Argentina.

    5. FFFrog
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      France vs Peru or Argentina vs Croatia for me. I think Spain will batter Portugal's geriatric defense gw1, so would maybe go with Brazil vs Switzerland as the hardest top team fixture gw1 because of Switzerland's defence, but I think all the top teams have quite nice fixtures gw1.

  5. Fantasy Gold
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    Test

    1. Epic Fail
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      icles

      1. Epic Fail
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        5 years, 10 months ago

        Never gets old.

        1. Fantasy Gold
          • 9 Years
          5 years, 10 months ago

          Never fails to make me laugh

  6. arndff_
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    Had a nightmare as I was dreaming that PL season has just started and I missed the deadline, so I had to use my WC so early.

    Yikes.

    1. Fantasy Gold
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Nah, you still have half an hour until the deadline

      1. arndff_
        • 12 Years
        5 years, 10 months ago

        Not in my dream though. 😀

        Your new profile picture is better compared to the old one. 😉

        1. Fantasy Gold
          • 9 Years
          5 years, 10 months ago

          Cheers fella 🙂

  7. the snazzy viking
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    I miss the fake lineup posts pre kick off and all the lol @ player posts

    the season can't start soon enough !

    1. Fantasy Gold
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      You’ll soon get sick of all that

      1. the snazzy viking
        • 7 Years
        5 years, 10 months ago

        yeah it does drive me nuts all the time, and usually I despise it, but it's just classic FFS and the contrast of characters on here makes for an entertaining comments section especially on matchdays

        1. Fantasy Gold
          • 9 Years
          5 years, 10 months ago

          Some posters are funny but 95% on matchdays are just annoying

  8. FPL Virgin
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    Membership renewed.

    I'M. SORRY.

    1. Fantasy Gold
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      For what?

      1. Team Cruel
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        5 years, 10 months ago

        For not renewing yesterday so Mark couldn't afford biscuits to go along with his tea.

        1. Fantasy Gold
          • 9 Years
          5 years, 10 months ago

          😆

    2. Team Cruel
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      You didn't finish on the podium this year 🙁

      1. FPL Virgin
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 7 Years
        5 years, 10 months ago

        I know 🙁

        I just got lucky last year.

  9. Fantasy Gold
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    FPL Virginia reminded me.

    Renewed.

    Mark - you can buy some of Morocco’s finest hummus now.

    1. Team Cruel
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Here you go Mark, have some fine wine to go with Morocco's finest hummus.

    2. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      He only eats that when Mane is in form 🙂

      1. Fantasy Gold
        • 9 Years
        5 years, 10 months ago

        Boom, 3 renewals in quick succession.

        Mark can have a Banquet now 🙂

  10. RAFA THE GAFFA
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    QUICK! Kane or Salah for Captain??????

    1. Fantasy Gold
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Salah.

      Kane is a joke donkey player

    2. G-Whizz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Whoever you feel will score the most points 😆

      1. RAFA THE GAFFA
        • 7 Years
        5 years, 10 months ago

        Haha 🙂

  11. Earwicker
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    In fpl we know the managers who will generally go for the kill when they're a goal up and the ones who will park the bus. For WC managers competitions are obviously different to friendlies. For instance I looked back at the six WC qualifying games in 2017 for South America. In that time COL, ARG and URU only once scored 2 goals or more, whereas BRA scored 2 or more in four of their games, as did PER.
    So can we identify the managers who like to have their teams score a hat full when given a chance - memories of WC 2014 NED v SPN, GER v BRA.

    1. FFFrog
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Spain and Belgium for me - they've both proven recently that they can score 4+ when they're in a rhythm

  12. Transfer Plan (Rounds 1 & 2): FIFA WC Fantasy Football
    Tommytour
    • 13 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    With the key part of Maccy Ds being you are able to sub players and change captains each day, I thought I'd have a look at key players to target for your starting squad. I have only focussed on GW 1 and 2 as the most popular strategy I believe will be to WC in GW3.

    ROUND 1
    DAY 1
    Russia v Saudi Arabia

    Captain Options - Smolov
    Other Targets - Russia defence

    DAY 2
    Egypt v Uruguay
    Morocco v Iran
    Portugal v Spain

    Captain Options - Cavani, Suarez, Isco
    Other Targets - Spain, Uruguay, Morroco, Iran defence

    DAY 3
    France v Australia
    Argentina v Iceland
    Peru v Denmark
    Croatia v Nigeria

    Captain Options - France attack, Messi, Aguero, Perisic
    Other Targets - France, Croatia defence

    DAY 4
    Costa Rica v Serbia
    Germany v Mexico
    Brazil v Switzerland

    Captain Options - Neymar, Jesus, Werner, Muller
    Other Targets - Brazil, Germany defence, Paulinho, Sane

    DAY 5
    Sweden v South Korea
    Belgium v Panama
    England v Tunisia

    Captain Options - Hazard, Lukaku, Kane
    Other Targets - Belgium, England defence

    DAY 6
    Colombia v Japan
    Poland v Senegal

    Captain Options - J Rod, Lewandowski, Milik
    Other Targets - Colombian defence

    ROUND 2
    DAY 1
    Russia v Egypt

    Captain Options - Smolov, Salah

    DAY 2
    Portugal v Morocco
    Uruguay v Saudi Arabia
    Iran v Spain

    Captain Options - Cavani, Suarez, Isco, Ronaldo
    Other Targets - Spain defence, Uruguay defence, Portugal defence

    DAY 3
    Denmark v Australia
    Argentina v Croatia
    Peru v France

    Captain Options - Eriksen, Messi, Aguero
    Other Targets - Denmark defence

    DAY 4
    Costa Rica v Brazil
    Nigeria v Iceland
    Serbia v Switzerland

    Captain Options - Neymar, Jesus,
    Other Targets - Brazil defence, Paulinho

    DAY 5
    Mexico v South Korea
    Belgium v Tunisia
    Germany v Sweden

    Captain Options - Hazard, Lukaku, Werner, Muller
    Other Targets - Germany, Belguim defence, Sane

    DAY 6
    Colombia v Poland
    Japan v Senegal
    England v Panama

    Captain Options - J Rod, Kane
    Other Targets - England defence

    SUMMARY

    Day 1 - Russia should be the no 1 primary targets for cheap filling options who we can sub out straight away if they fail, Smolov could be a great cheap 3rd striker option giving you the best Day 1 captain each round.
    Day 2 - Cavani/Suarez best captaincy option for Day 2 with Uruguay and Spain defence looking a shoe in.
    Day 3 - No team has two easy fixtures, France the most promising. It may be worth using a transfer for this day to maximise points eg Perisic > Eriksen.
    Day 4 - Brazil should be the main targets here. Germany good for Day 4/5.
    Day 5 - Belgium look essential for captaincy and clean sheets. England good for Day5/6.
    Day 6 - J Rod will be in most teams as a last day captain.

    POTENTIAL SQUAD

    Akinfeev
    Godin Ramos Kimmich
    Isco Paulinho Muller Perisic(> Eriksen GW2)
    Lukaku Cavani Smolov

    Pickford Trippier Meunier J Rod

    1. Fantasy Gold
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Nice post mate.

      Thanks.

    2. FFFrog
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Your thinking and notes look to be scarily similar to mine! I imagine Muller will be a fwd otherwise he'd go straight in my team - if he's not I'm tempted to go for a cheaper mid like Ziyech there, who also plays early so can be subbed out but has a nice gw1 fixture, to allow me to have Jesus and Werner up top alongside Kaku, who for me is the most essential player for the groups.

    3. Karan14
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Really needed this. Great post.

      Cheers! 😀

    4. Tommo1888
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      So you have to remember to change your captain each day?

    5. The Overthinker
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Thanks for this.

  13. Brosstan
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    Is Willian a sure starter for Brazil?

    1. Karan14
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Don’t think so.

    2. FFFrog
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      He was seen doing specific training exercises with Neymar and Jesus recently, but he's not nailed on per se.

  14. FPL Pillars
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    Last Pick in my MacDonalds XI:

    A) McFlurry
    B) Big Mac

    ... nevermind I've just eaten option B so A it is!

    1. MinuteFong
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Thanks for those nuggets of wisdom...

  15. Brosstan
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    The McDonalds game seems too time consuming for me. The swapping captains and subbing mid round etc. Too much planning needed to do well. The Norwegian broadcaster NRK has a game that seems very straight forward and similar to normal FPL, Ill be playing that. Its only in Norwegian though.

    1. Team Cruel
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      Those two are the ones that I will be playing.

      1. Brosstan
        • 9 Years
        5 years, 10 months ago

        Strange that defenders dont get additional points for scoring goals. The top defenders like Marcelo seem very overpriced if thats the case.

    2. Fantasy Gold
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      It’s not time-consuming at all.

      It’s pretty easy to get a good starting team in place then it’s just a case of looking at the fixtures and switching out players/captains accordingly.

      It only takes a few minutes 🙂

    3. JJeyy
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      link to nrk game?

  16. Team of the Season – Kevin De Bruyne
  17. Earwicker
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 10 months ago

    Apologies if this has been addressed elsewhere...

    In the McD game, assuming RUS and EGY have a double gameweek in Round 1, I guess you can transfer in a high scoring RUS player before his second game and captain him and get the double points from his first game?

    1. FFFrog
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 10 months ago

      They don't have a dgw gw1

      1. Earwicker
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 7 Years
        5 years, 10 months ago

        Got it. Thanks. I was reading off the BBC website which put the RUS game in front of the last 2 although it's at a later time. Must be all the anxiety of England playing...getting to me already.

  18. hungngo
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    Thanks for the post.

  19. JJeyy
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    Lukaku and hazard double worth it?