With the World Cup getting underway on Sunday, we’ll be bringing you some team reveals from Fantasy managers and Fantasy Football Scout users who have been successful in international tournaments or short-format games in the past.

Now it’s the turn of FPLEye (@FplEye), a top 2k finisher in Russia 2018 and someone who has been writing about this year’s tournament at length, to talk us through their Matchday 1 draft.

Make sure to check out our complete guide for everything else you need ahead of Qatar 2022.

Forwards 

In my opinion and that of the bookies, Argentina and Brazil are the top two favourites to win the World Cup this year. Both have fairly easy group stage games, so my forward line-up consists of Lionel Messi ($10.5m), Neymar ($10.5m) and Richarlison ($7.5m). Richarlison is a steal at his price, having scored three goals and bagged an assist in his last two games. Both Neymar and Richarlison will be involved with most of the goals that their nation score – and I think Brazil will score a lot of goals in the group stage.

And need I explain the Messi pick?

Midfielders

Kevin De Bruyne ($11.0m) has been playing exceptionally well for a number of years now. Despite his high price tag, I believe it’ll be unwise to ignore him especially as there is a bonus-point-awarding system for key passes. Belgium have easy fixtures in their first two group stage games (v Canada and Morocco) and you’d be hard pressed to find a better pair of matches than that in Qatar. 

Steven Bergwijn ($7.0m) was one of the most nailed players in my side from the very first draft. Louis van Gaal likes to play him alongside Memphis Depay ($8.5m) almost as a striker. In this price bracket, he’s a bargain. The Netherlands have a great run of fixtures in the group stages too. 

Rodrigo De Paul ($5.0m) is a different beast while playing for Argentina and is clearly the best possible option in that price range. I’m confident that he’ll earn a lot of extra points by tackling and making key passes, as well. Another player from Argentina that I really wanted was Angel Di Maria ($8.5m) but I can’t seem to manage the funds for now. 

Denmark could be a dark horse in this tournament. They’ve been playing brilliant football lately and won four of their last six games, beating France twice in the process. Andreas Skov Olsen ($6.0m) is a fine asset for a $6.0m price tag who plays among the attacking front three. 

One team that are not getting enough attention are Hans Flick’s Germany. Leroy Sane ($9.0m) is one of the main men of this German side. When Die Mannschaft score goals, the probability of him being involved is really high. Their first match against Japan should be an easy one. 

Defenders

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