We round up the key Fantasy talking points from Saturday’s two World Cup quarter-finals in our Scout Notes summary.
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MOROCCO 1-0 PORTUGAL
- GOAL: Youssef En-Nesyri
- ASSIST: Yahya Attiat-Allah
- RED CARD: Walid Cheddira
ENGLAND 1-2 FRANCE
- GOALS: Harry Kane | Aurelien Tchouameni, Olivier Giroud
- ASSISTS: Antoine Griezmann x2
- PENALTIES WON BY: Bukayo Saka, Mason Mount
- PENALTY CULPRITS: Theo Hernandez, Aurelien Tchouameni
And then there were four, with England and Portugal’s elimination leaving Fantasy managers with a diminished crop of players to choose from in Matchdays 6 and 7.
The Three Lions’ biennial plucky exit and Cristiano Ronaldo‘s ($10.0m) tears may be on the back pages of the Sunday papers but it’s France and Morocco that we Fantasy bosses have to concentrate on now, along with the already qualified Croatia and Argentina.
Attack v defence is likely what we’ll see a lot of in Wednesday’s second semi-final.
France are surprisingly without a clean sheet in this year’s tournament but have scored 11 goals in the four matches in which their regular XI has been sent out.
Morocco, by contrast, have yet to concede a single goal to an opposition player, with four shut-outs arriving in their five World Cup games so far. But only Costa Rica (30.1%) have had a smaller share of possession in Qatar than Africa’s first-ever World Cup semi-finalists (31.4%).
Above: The average position of players playing for Morocco (left) and Portugal (right) on Saturday
While there’s more skill to the north African overachievers than the 2004 European Championship winners, there’s more than a hint of early-noughties Greece about this Moroccan run to the last four.
Forward Youssef En-Nesyri ($5.5m) played the Angelos Charisteas role to perfection against the Portuguese, popping up to nod in the game’s only goal before the players behind him utterly nullified the threat of Bruno Fernandes ($9.5m) and co.
Where fellow semi-finalists Croatia have sometimes ridden their luck and relied on goalkeeping heroics, the talented Yassine ‘Bono’ Bounou ($4.5m) has had to deal with only eight shots on target all tournament. Belgium, Croatia, Spain and now Portugal have all failed to find a way past the Moroccan defence.
The fact that their latest win was earned without the injured/ill Nayef Aguerd ($4.0m) and Noussair Mazraoui ($5.0m) made it all the more impressive, with budget Fantasy defenders Jawad El Yamiq ($3.5m) and Yahya Attiat-Allah ($3.5m) slotting in seamlessly at centre-half and left-back respectively.
Attiat-Allah, in fact, popped up with the assist for his side’s winner.
Another regular stopper, Romain Saiss ($4.0m), limped out of the game before the hour mark, yet still the clear-cut chances failed to arrive in numbers.
“Mazraoui is sick, Aguerd is injured, Saïss is now injured and Hakimi has been in pain since the start of the competition. But to win the World Cup you need to trust in all your 26 players.” – Morocco head coach Walid Regragui
France meanwhile (just about) proved that they were more than a one-man team, with Kylian Mbappe ($11.5m) largely quietened by England’s right side.
Gareth Southgate’s spirited troops may have reduced the Golden Boot front-runner to just one shot all game but they failed to prevent Aurelien Tchouameni‘s ($6.5m) early thunderbolt from distance, failed to stop Antoine Griezmann‘s ($8.5m) pinpoint 78th-minute cross and failed to heed an earlier warning from Olivier Giroud ($7.5m) when the match-winner rose to head France into the last four.
There’s plenty of quality elsewhere in Didier Deschamps’ squad, although Morocco will take plenty of heart from England’s display – they were only a Harry Kane ($11.0m) penalty miss away from forcing the reigning champions into extra time and were the better team in the second half – and will likely replicate the Mbappe-suffocating tactics.
What the elimination of the Netherlands, England, Portugal and Brazil does is leave the Fantasy midfield pool devoid of attractive options.
Not a single remaining player classified as a midfielder has scored more than once in Qatar; not a single remaining player classified as a midfielder has registered more than one big chance, either.
Hakim Ziyech ($7.0m) joins Ivan Perisic ($7.5m) and Luka Modric ($8.5m) in arguably being the pick of the Matchday 6 midfielders but even the Chelsea winger has only had one shot in the box all tournament. He might need a fitness check ahead of midweek, too, after hobbling out of Saturday’s win.
Tchouameni and Adrien Rabiot ($6.5m) meanwhile are more recognised for their contributions away from the opposition area, despite their goal apiece in this winter World Cup.
Above: The midfielders to have scored at the 2022 FIFA World Cup
