We round up the key Fantasy talking points from Wednesday’s four fixtures in our Scout Notes summary.
The graphics and numbers you see in this article are from our Premium Members area, which now includes all Opta player and team data from not just World Cup qualifying but also the ongoing tournament itself.
BELGIUM 1-0 CANADA
- Goal: Michy Batshuayi
- Assist: Toby Alderweireld
- Penalty miss: Alphonso Davies
- Penalty save: Thibaut Courtois
Kevin De Bruyne ($11.0m) is the third most-selected player in FIFA’s official Fantasy game but a poor performance here resulted in a blank, as lucky Belgium scraped past the dominant Canadians.
Appearing in their first World Cup match since 1986, John Herdman’s side had more touches in the opposition area than Spain did during their 7-0 win (more on that below), with only Germany and France exceeding their 22 goal attempts so far.
Canada’s ferocious pressing stunned Belgium in the first half and, although they looked tired by the end, an eighth-minute penalty could have changed everything.
Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies ($5.0m) has nine per cent ownership and is listed as a defender, despite being used in a front three. Not only that, he seems to be on penalty duties. Well, he was until this spot kick was saved by Thibaut Courtois ($6.0m). A later yellow card added to the pain.
Belgium’s goalkeeper is one of the most chosen in his position, so many will be delighted with his clean sheet and ten-point return. He also made a wonderful save to stop a Cyle Larin ($5.5m) header late on.
De Bruyne’s influence grew in the second half but he was often frustrated by goal scorer Michy Batshuayi ($6.5m). Yet once the Manchester City midfielder ran forward with the ball in the 86th minute, setting himself up perfectly, he blazed a shot well off target.
Former Chelsea and Crystal Palace striker Batshuayi took his goal well, controlling a long Toby Alderweireld ($5.5m) pass to fire into the net. His Fantasy appeal is brief though, as currently injured Romelu Lukaku ($9.5m) expects to make the final group game versus Croatia.
Elsewhere, 12.7 per cent had in-form Leandro Trossard ($5.5m) for his cameo appearance, whilst Tajon Buchanan ($5.5m) was Canada’s brightest spark. His shot forced the Yannick Carrasco ($7.0m) handball that brought the penalty and should have scored himself after later reaching a Richie Laryea ($3.5m) cross.
There’s certainly no shame in Canada losing to a top seed, especially with such an impressive performance. They have nothing to fear when facing Croatia and Morocco.
Belgium XI (3-4-2-1): Courtois; Dendoncker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen; Castagne; Witsel, Tielemans (Onana 46), Carrasco (Meunier 46); De Bruyne, E Hazard (Trossard 62); Batshuayi (Openda 78)
Canada XI (3-4-3): Borjan; Johnston, Vitória, Miller; Hoilett (Larin 58), Eustáquio (Osorio 81), Hutchinson (Kone 58), Laryea (Adekugbe 74); Buchanan (Millar 81), David, Davies
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GERMANY 1-2 JAPAN
- Goals: Ilkay Gundogan | Ritsu Doan, Takuma Asano
- Assists: Ko Itakura
- Won a penalty: David Raum
Whilst not as big a shock as Saudi Arabia defeating Argentina, the manner in which Germany let a 1-0 lead turn into their first-ever defeat to Japan was hugely surprising.
A series of brilliant substitutions by coach Hajime Moriyasu saw Ritsu Doan ($6.0m) and Takuma Asano ($5.5m) – both Bundesliga players – reward a fearless performance from the Samurai Blue.
26 of the entertaining game’s 38 goal attempts belonged to Germany, led by the six of both Serge Gnabry ($9.0m) and Ilkay Gundogan ($7.5m).
Left-back David Raum ($4.5m) won Gundogan’s successful spot kick, having been found in acres of space by a lofted diagonal pass. The impatient Japan goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda ($4.0m) fouled him and was subsequently sent the wrong way by his team-mate.
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Gonda looked shaky at times but also made plenty of saves, four of which came in the same attack. Firstly, he denied Jonas Hofmann ($7.0m), then beat away a cross-shot, before pulling off a superb double from Gnabry’s header and its rebound.
Both sides had a disallowed goal, as Daizen Maeda ($6.0m) was offside in the eighth minute and Kai Havertz ($8.5m) needlessly stepped ahead in first-half stoppage time. With Gundogan missing a great chance to score his second by hitting the post, Moriyasu knew it was time to make some changes.
Japan were always competitive in this match, so he threw on Asano, Doan, Kaoru Mitoma ($5.5m) and Takumi Minamino ($7.0m). They soon forced a great save from Manuel Neuer ($6.0m), where Hiroki Sakai ($4.0m) blazed an easy rebound over the bar.
Then, in the 75th minute, Mitoma and Minamino combined to see Neuer’s excellent stop land at Doan’s feet six yards out. He scored, yet Japan weren’t willing to settle for a point.
Eight minutes later, a long defensive free kick from Ko Itakura ($4.5m) found an onside Asano, who sped into the box and smashed a narrow-angled shot into the roof of the goalkeeper’s near post. Cue scenes of great celebration.
17.5 per cent of Fantasy managers were frustrated by the non-involvement of Leroy Sane ($9.0m), 13.9 per cent saw an early Antonio Rudiger ($5.5m) header hit the side netting and a similar proportion somehow didn’t get a return from the sparkling Jamal Musiala ($8.0m).
Near half-time, the 19-year-old dropped his shoulder before hitting an edge-of-box effort away from goal. He set up Gundogan’s woodwork moment and almost scored a wonderful solo goal, dancing inside the box, twisting and turning but putting the final shot over the bar.
Germany are now in danger of a second successive group stage elimination.
Germany XI (4-2-3-1): Neuer; Süle, Rüdiger, Schlotterbeck, Raum; Kimmich, Gündogan (Goretzka 67); Gnabry (Moukoko 90), Müller (Hofmann 67), Musiala (Gotze 79); Havertz (Fullkrug 79)
Japan XI (4-2-3-1): Gonda; Sakai (Minamino 74), Itakura, Yoshida, Nagatomo (Mitoma 57); Endo, Tanaka (Doan 71); J Ito, Kamada, Kubo (Tomiyasu 46); Maeda (Asano 57)
SPAIN 7-0 COSTA RICA
- Goals: Dani Olmo, Marco Asensio, Ferran Torres (x2), Gavi, Carlos Soler, Alvaro Morata
- Assists: Jordi Alba, Alvaro Morata, Dani Olmo
- Won a penalty: Jordi Alba
No shocks here, as Spain being 3-0 up after half an hour reduced the rest of the game to a procession. That makes it hard to really judge Spain’s Fantasy potential, as Luis Enrique could already have been thinking ahead to Sunday’s clash with Germany when picking the line-up.
Seven goals arrived from six different players and all five of their substitutions were made by the 69th minute. Meanwhile, Costa Rica didn’t have any goal attempts at all, such was the comfortable ease of Spain’s win.
Dani Olmo ($8.0m) began in the starting 11 ahead of Pedro Sarabia ($7.5m) and the attacker’s first shot came after five minutes, side-footing a difficult volley wide.
Not to worry, he soon had seven points added for a goal. A nice one-two with Gavi ($7.0m) involved a scooped pass that put Olmo in a position to calmly finish past Keylor Navas ($5.0m).
After 21 minutes, Spain’s second most-owned asset Jordi Alba ($6.0m) passed from the left flank for Marco Asensio ($8.5m) to casually sweep home, before the left-back soon won a penalty that Ferran Torres ($7.0m) netted.
Once Torres made it four in the early minutes of the second half, Spain seemed to declare themselves done. Changes were made – including Alvaro Morata ($8.0m) – and time seemed to tick by for a while.
Then a flurry of late goals arrived from 18-year-old Gavi, Carlos Soler ($6.5m) and Morata. Only three of the seven have assists credited to them but owners of Unai Simon ($5.5m), Aymeric Laporte ($5.5m) and Cesar Azpilicueta ($5.0m) will at least be pleased with a clean sheet.
If a win arrives against Germany, that’s when Spain’s best Fantasy options will become clear.
Spain XI (4-3-3): Unai Simon; Azpilicueta, Rodri, Laporte, Alba (Balde 64); Gavi, Busquets (Koke 64), Pedri (Soler 57); F Torres (Morata 57), Asensio (N Williams 69), Olmo
Costa Rica XI (5-4-1): Navas; Martinez (Waston 46), Fuller, Duarte, Calvo, Oviedo (Matarrita 82); Campbell, Tejeda, Borges (Aguilera 72), Bennette (Ruiz 61); Contreras (Zamora 61)
MOROCCO 0-0 CROATIA
Not a lot happened here, as another goalless draw followed the Tuesday’s two. Just three shots were on target, with nobody exceeding four penalty area touches and only Hakim Ziyech ($7.0m) creating more than one chance.
Therefore, it meant popular bargain pick Borna Sosa ($3.5m) bagged a clean sheet and – although generally quiet in attack – he did provide the game’s only big chance according to Members Area data.
Morocco right-back Achraf Hakimi ($5.0m) has 7.3 per cent ownership and brought in a defensive return, also forcing goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic ($5.0m) to make a rare save in the 65th minute.
Livakovic also did well to stop a Noussair Mazraoui ($5.0m) header, shortly before the Bayern Munich defender had to be stretchered off. Injury also forced Nikola Vlasic‘s ($5.0m) departure at half-time.
In truth, both nations lack the quality centre-forward required to turn these types of matches into victories. Tottenham Hotspur’s Ivan Perisic ($7.5m) had a long-range shot in the 17th minute that wasn’t too far off target but couldn’t muster much else. He wasn’t on set pieces either, with Luka Modric ($8.5m) on almost all Croatian corners.
They’ll be hoping for a better result against Canada on Sunday, whilst Morocco have to face Belgium.
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Morocco XI (4-3-3): Bounou; Hakimi, Aguerd, Saiss, Mazraoui (Attiat-Allah 60); Amrabat, Ounahi (Sabiri 82), Amallah; Ziyech, En-Nesyri (Hamdallah 81), Boufal (Ezzalzouli 65)
Croatia XI (4-3-3): Livakovic; Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Sosa; Kovacic (Majer 79), Brozovic, Modric; Vlasic (Pasalic 46), Kramaric (Livaja 71), Perisic (Orsic 90)
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