Kroos and Reus save Germany from brink of World Cup disaster

Belgium and Germany issued statements of intent as they both recorded spectacular World Cup results.

Roberto Martinez’s side fired five goals past Tunisia while the defending champions came back from the brink to beat Sweden.

We’ve got all the latest goals and assists from another day in Russia.

BELGIUM 5-2 TUNISIA

TOP-SCORING PLAYERS

• Eden Hazard (£10.0m) – 12 points
• Romelu Lukaku (£10.0m) – 9 points
• Wahbi Khazri (£6.5m) – 9 points
• Dylan Bronn (£4.5m) – 7 points
• Kevin De Bruyne (£10.0m) – 5 points
• Michy Batshuayi (£8.0m) – 5 points
• Thomas Meunier (£6.0m) – 4 points
• Youri Tielemans (£5.5m) – 4 points
• Hamdi Nagguez (£4.5m) – 4 points

Romelu Lukaku (£10.0m) and Eden Hazard (£10.0m) rewarded their World Cup Fantasy owners with a brace each in a high-scoring win for Belgium.

Belgium were in front just five minutes into the match after Syam Ben Youssef (£4.5m) brought down Hazard in the penalty area. The Chelsea man scored the spot-kick himself.

Shortly afterwards, Lukaku doubled Belgium’s lead. Receiving the ball from Dries Mertens (£9.0m) on the edge of the box, he fired back across goal to nestle the ball into the bottom corner.

Tunisia got themselves back into the match when Dylan Bronn (£4.5m) turned in Wahbi Khazri’s (£6.5m) free-kick.

However, the third goal came at the wrong time for them, just before half-time. Thomas Meunier’s (£6.0m) through ball into the box was well-met by Lukaku’s run, the Manchester United striker dinking the ball over the on-rushing Farouk Ben Mustapha (£4.0m).

Belgium were straight back at it in the second-half with Hazard netting his second of the match soon after the break. An excellent sweeping through-ball from Kevin De Bruyne put him through on goal and he took it round the goalkeeper to coolly finished and make it 4-1.

That fourth goal made sure that Lukaku didn’t make it to the 60-minute mark. He picked up a knock in the first half, which he was able to play through, but manager Roberto Martinez preferred to wrap him up in cotton wool ahead of an important meeting with England in Gameround 3. Reports in the media suggest he is now a doubt for Thursday night.

Hazard himself was withdrawn soon after, and is now also a doubt to face England. He was replaced by Michy Batshuayi (£8.0m), who was to have an eventful 22 minutes on the pitch.

The Chelsea striker had six shots, more than any other player in the game, and only managed to score the once. Among his missed chances were a close-range fierce shot straight at the goalkeeper from De Bruyne’s pull-back and a shot fired into the cross-bar from three yards out. In the end he converted his most difficult opportunity, latching a volley onto Youri Tielemans’ (£5.5m) chip through-ball and directing the ball into the bottom right corner.

Khazri got a consolation goal in stoppage time directing Hamdi Nagguez’s (£4.5m) cross into the net.

BELGIUM XI (3-4-2-1): Courtois; Vertonghen, Boyata, Alderweireld; Carrasco, Witsel, De Bruyne, Meunier; E Hazard (Batshuayi 67’), Mertens (Tielemans 85’); R Lukaku (Fellaini 58’).

TUNISIA XI (4-3-3): Ben Mustapha; Maaloul, Meriah, S Ben Youssef (Benalouane 41’), Bronn (Nagguez 24’); Khaoui, Schiri, Sassi (Sliti 58’); Bardi, Khazri, F Ben Youssef.

SOUTH KOREA 1-2 MEXICO

TOP-SCORING PLAYERS

• Carlos Vela (£7.5m) – 6 points
• Son Heung-min (£8.0m) – 6 points
• Javier Hernandez (£8.5m) – 6 points
• Hirving Lozano (£7.5m) – 5 points
• Guillermo Ochoa (£5.0m) – 3 points

Javier Hernandez (£8.5m) and Hirving Lozano (£8.0m) were the Fantasy heroes for Mexico again as they beat South Korea 2-1.

However, there was deep frustration for the 8.5 percent of Fantasy managers invested in goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa (£5.0m).

That’s because he was minutes away from recording a second clean sheet in a row before Son Heung-min (£8.0m) fired in a spectacular stoppage time consolation goal.

Mexico’s lead came from the spot in the 26th minute when Jang Hyun-soo (£4.5m) was penalised for handling the ball in the penalty box. Carlos Vela (£7.5m) took the penalty for his first goal of the tournament.

South Korea looked much more energised than they did in their opener against Sweden. Their efforts forced Ochoa into five saves.

However, their more open playing style allowed Mexico to hit them on the counter. Finally, in the 66th minute, the Koreans were punished for their attacking play. Lozano ran at the defence and slid Hernandez into the box, who slotted home.

Just as Mexico were seeing out a 2-0 win, Tottenham forward Son swung a curling effort into Ochoa’s net to wipe out the clean sheet.

SOUTH KOREA XI (4-2-3-1): Jo; Kim M, Kim Y (Hong 84’), Jang, Lee Y; Ki, Ju (Lee S 63’); Hwang, Lee J, Moon (Jung 77’); Son.

MEXICO XI (4-2-3-1): Ochoa; Gallardo, Moreno, Salcedo, Alvarez; Guardado (Marquez 68’), Herrera; Lozano (Corona 71’), Vela (dos Santos 77’), Layun; Hernandez.

GERMANY 2-1 SWEDEN

TOP-SCORING PLAYERS

• Marco Reus (£8.0m) – 9 points
• Toni Kroos (£9.0m) – 7 points
• Ola Toivenen (£7.0m) – 6 points
• Viktor Claesson (£5.5m) – 5 points
• Mario Gomez (£8.5m) – 4 points

Toni Kroos (£9.0m) was the hero for Germany as they beat Sweden, but Marco Reus (£8.0m) was the stand-out Fantasy star with both a goal and an assist.

Real Madrid midfielder Kroos scored the stoppage-time winner for the defending World Cup champions, which as assisted by Reus.

The Borussia Dortmund man was the man who got Germany back into the game when he netted in the 48th minute.

Germany dominated possession in their attempts to get the first goal but Sweden looked very dangerous on the counter attack initially. They found particular joy in wider areas, with full-backs Jonas Hector (£6.5m) and Joshua Kimmich (£6.5m) operating very high up the pitch.

Ola Toivenen (£7.0m) gave Sweden the lead in the 32nd minute as he pulled in a Viktor Claesson (£5.5m) cross and clipped the ball past Neuer, under pressure from Antonio Rudiger (£5.5m).

Mario Gomez (£8.5m) was introduced at half-time and made an instant impact. Timo Werner (£9.0m) put in a cross from the left flank which was flicked on by Gomez in the box and was turned into the net by Reus.

Germany continued to pile on the pressure while Sweden looked increasingly content to play for a point.

However, the Germans’ efforts to get a positive result going into Gameround 3 was dealt a huge blow when Jerome Baoteng (£6.0m) sent off for a second bookable offence in the 83rd minute.

Despite the man-disadvantage, Germany still managed to get the win they deserved when Kroos bent a curling free-kick into the top corner in stoppage time.

GERMANY XI (3-4–2-1): Neuer; Kimmich, Boateng, Rüdiger, Hector (Brandt 86’); Rudy (Gundogan 31’), Kroos; Reus, Draxler (Gomez 45’), Müller; Werner.

SWEDEN XI (4-4-2): Olsen; Augustinsson, Lindelöf, Granqvist, Lustig; Claesson (Durmaz 73’), Larsson, Ekdal, Forsberg; Berg (Thelin 89’), Toivonen (Guidetti 77’).

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 previewing 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.