Lionel Messi (£12.0m) remains the Fantasy focus of tonight’s Group D finale but a large proportion have lost faith in the Argentina forward.
68,000+ McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy players removed Messi from their squads before the Gameround 3 deadline, making him the most transferred out asset of the round. Although he is still the most popular figure tonight with 18.4 percent still invested.
Messi has been responsible for six of Argentina’s last seven goals and is seemingly the only hope his nation have of beating Nigeria and reaching the second round.
Hoping to keep Jorge Sampaoli’s side out is the Super Eagles’ budget goalkeeper Francis Uzoho (£4.0m) who now has 12.3 percent ownership after recording a clean sheet against Iceland in Gameround 2. With Argentina expected to throw everything at Nigeria, Uzoho looks guaranteed for at least a handful of save points.
No World Cup midfielder has yet registered more shots in the penalty area than Maximiliano Meza (£5.5m), but the Argentinean is one of five players – along with Willy Caballero (£5.0m) and Sergio Aguero (£10.0m) – to lose their place in Jorge Sampaoli’s much-changed starting XI.
In the other Group D match, Luka Modric (£9.0m) is comfortably the most influential Fantasy asset. Having found the net twice in two World Cup matches and on penalties, he goes into Croatia’s meeting with Iceland on 14.3 percent ownership.
Dejan Lovren’s (£5.5m) back-to-back clean sheets sees him in 12.9 percent of squads but, with Croatia already qualified, the Liverpool defender is one of nine players to be rested for his country’s match against Iceland tonight.
Meanwhile, Fantasy managers have largely deserted Iceland with no player enjoying over the 3.6 percent ownership of midfielder Emil Hallfredsson (£4.5m).
Argentina XI (4-4-2): Armani; Mercado, Otamendi, Rojo, Tagliafico; Mascherano, Banega, Perez, Di Maria; Messi, Higuain
Nigeria XI (3-5-2): Uzoho; Omeruo, Balogun, Ekong; Idowu, Etebo, Ndidi, Mikel, Moses; Musa, Iheanacho
Croatia XI (4-2-3-1): Kalinic; Jedvaj, Caleta-Car, Corluka, Pivaric; Badelj, Modric; Perisic, Kovacic, Pjaca; Kramaric
Iceland XI (4-4-1-1): Halldorsson; Saevarsson, Ingason, R. Sigurdsson, Magnusson; Bjarnason, Gunnarsson, Hallfredsson, Gudmundsson; G. Sigurdsson; Finnbogason
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, which begins on June 14 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.
