World cup game 26

[llama]

Got 10 £1 teams

Thought the max was five teams ?

[bloggie]

Got 10 £1 teams

Thought the max was five teams ?

Bet365 duplicate the game so you can have 5 there.

[llama]

Ahh, of course. May take advantage of that too - cheers!

[BLOCKHEAD]

I'm pretty much locked in with my teams and strategy. I certainly won't be swayed too much by the friendlies so the likes of Pulisic and Lukaku can stay the hell away from my teams.

[BLOCKHEAD]

Haiti 4-0 New Zealand.

Scotland are in BIG trouble

[Maldini]

So how incredibly poor New Zealand are affects Scotland?

Didn’t know that. Thanks for the heads up.

[raoul]

been looking at pre-tournament friendlies...

Uruguay are nowhere to be seen. Last played at end of March.

Odd?

[admin]

https://www.fiso.co.uk/fantasy-world-cu ... to-target/

Highlighting match-ups between favourites and minnows.

[admin]

Below are the predicted starting line-ups for the top 15 countries (in the betting) based on the player feed for the FanTeam WC2026 game:

https://www.fiso.co.uk/expected-startin ... countries/

[BLOCKHEAD]

Seems fairly easy to pick a strong side. Can't see there being too many enablers needed.

GW3 is always the hardest to plan for in these tournaments - even more so this time around.

It's amazing what you can achieve if your bench consists of only base price players. I've managed to fill my starting teams full of Spanish, Germans, Portuguese, Frenchies, Norwegians and the odd Brazilian. All premium assets too for each position, there was no need for any enabler from these teams.

[BLOCKHEAD]

been looking at pre-tournament friendlies...

Uruguay are nowhere to be seen. Last played at end of March.

Odd?

Bielsa must know exactly what his starting XI will be and didn't want to risk anyone getting injured in warmup games. Not the worst idea because we've already seen a few get injured in friendlies meaning they will miss the World Cup.

[llama]

It's amazing what you can achieve if your bench consists of only base price players. I've managed to fill my starting teams full of Spanish, Germans, Portuguese, Frenchies, Norwegians and the odd Brazilian. All premium assets too for each position, there was no need for any enabler from these teams.

Yeah, pricing is no issue. The main problem is only being able to pick 11 outfield players. There are too many good options.

[blahblah]

I've just had a go at picking a squad and the pricing is soft for the Groups, but will probably tighten up further down the road...

Am I right there's no rolling of Xfers and only 2 until GW5, which (in true Cybil Fawlty style) is after 4 when the team limit starts increasing and Xfers double to 4 for the duration?

So it kinda forces the WC to be played for GW4?

[BLOCKHEAD]

Your interpretation is correct Blah. I think WC before GW3 will be the most popular, you could wait until GW4 if you have a more balanced squad with decent players on the bench who can sub in for GW3. But I think most will go for big hitters in the starting XI and cheap bench.

[blahblah]

Thanks: not having the increases for 4 is a tad odd, but I guess that with 32 from 48 it isn't that daft.

Unlike the no-rolling of xfers, which is annoying.

[bloggie]

Problem with GW3 wildcard is you're stuck with that team and you're guessing lineups so picking teams with something to play for who wouldn't be ideal in knockouts. You may atleast be able to guess some knockout fixtures after GW2. The other option they had in other games where the next cheapest or equal value player is subbed on may have been more suitable here.

[llama]

No way I will be going with a GW3 wildcard.

[blahblah]

I think that the KOs will throw up some surprises/shocks and the xfersay not be enough after one, or both of the first 2 rounds.

[aurora]

You'd be better off taking transfer hits than using a wildcards that early imo.

[BLOCKHEAD]

If nearly all your players are from nations which have qualified by GW3 (likely to be the case) then that's a serious number of hits. Think I will take my chance with the GW3 wildcard.

[bloggie]

Some teams may be playing for an easier ko opponent after already having qualified.

[BLOCKHEAD]

It's possible, but I still expect a large amount of rotation. Perhaps best to go for talisman picks in that case. I need to take another look at the wallchart to see who dare not finish 2nd in their group.

[aurora]

But it's not just about qualifying, it's about group positions as well, top teams will be wanting to finish top as in theory it leads to better draws. And most players picked in fanteam will be from the top nations so I'm not sure there's going to be as much rotation as expected for the third group game, looking at the group fixtures, Brazil, France, England, Belgium in particular could only have 4pts going into match day 3. Most expect Brazil to beat Morocco but don't think that's a gimmie, England probably draw with Croatia, Belgium with Egypt, France v African champs Senegal. France have Norway last game, probably be a shootout for 1st place.

[llama]

The other issue with an early GW3 wildcard is that, presumably, you’ll be wildcarding in a few second-string players you won’t want in GW4.

And only 2 transfers to fix it.

[raoul]

The issue is that it is a last 32, not a last 16 - meaning a wider range of potential opponents not just in the last 32 (which is to an extent predictable and even can be managed in GW3 perhaps) but in the whole run in after that.

Wildcard for GW3 is there ... whether it gets used who knows, and I cannot see much point worrying about it given the large number of uncontrollables.

Even in groups where the likely best 2 play in the final game, why would say France and Norway play out a dull draw when one of them will know they finish 2nd if that happens? On the other hand, maybe they will, given the top 2 in that group get Brazil and Germany in the last 16 if all goes to seed.

For the record, here is what happens to each group winner and second place:

England win group, get a 3rd, then Mexico in the L16. Nice.
England get 2nd, likely get Colombia then then Spain in the L16. Not nice.

Portugal win group, get a 3rd, then Canada in L16 (ok, Switzerland perhaps more likely). Nice.
Portugal get 2nd, likely get Croatia in L32, then Spain in L16. Not nice.

Argentina win group, likely get Uruguay in L32, then Egypt or Paraguay in L16. Could be worse.
Argentina get 2nd, get Spain in L32, then Colombia or Croatia in L16. Ugly.

France win group, get a 3rd, then Germany in L16.
France come 2nd, get Ivory C or Ecuador in L32 then Brazil in L16.

Now that perhaps is a group (France, Norway) where winning the group has limited benefits?

Spain win group, Austria or Algeria in L32, Croatia or Colombia in L16. Middling/reasonable?
Spain come second, Argentina L32, Egypt or Paraguay in L16. Nasty.

Belgium win group, get a 3rd, then USA in L16. Pleasant.
Belgium come 2nd, Paraguay in L32, then Argentina in L16.

Netherlands win group, Morocco in L32, Switzerland or South Korea in L16. Nice.
Netherlands come 2nd, Brazil in L32. Ivory Coast or Norway in L16. Not as nice.

Germany win group, get a 3rd, then France in L16. Could be better.
Germany come 2nd, get Norway in L32, Brazil in L16. Worse.

USA win group, get a 3rd then Belgium in L16. OK.
USA come 2nd, get Egypt in L32 then Argentina. Not as OK.

Brazil win group, get Sweden/Japan/Tunisia (group F so hard to call) then Ivory Coast or Norway in L16.
Brazil come 2nd, get Netherlands, then S Korea or Switzerland.

Brazil another group where maybe topping it is not so important?

Canada get a 3rd, then Portugal in L16.
Canada come 2nd, get South Korea then Netherlands in L16.

Tempted to say 2nd is better than 1st?

Mexico win group, get a 3rd then England in L16.
Come 2nd, and it is S Korea then Netherlands in L16.

Obviously I am assuming 2nd place teams above just to give it some feel, but England, Portugal and Belgium are the lucky ones who if they win group get the winners of the "easier" host groups in the L16 (with all 3 hosts getting a 3rd place team before that meaning some protection if they can get to the L16 as group winners.

The fun of course will come when someone supposedly good ends up as a 3rd place team who sneaks through...

Let the fun begin!

[raoul]

The other issue with an early GW3 wildcard is that, presumably, you’ll be wildcarding in a few second-string players you won’t want in GW4.

And only 2 transfers to fix it.

the more I think about this, the more I want not to use the WC to get through GW3.

and the more I think about it, the less likely it looks that many players will get a total rest.

[llama]

Spain win group, Austria or Algeria in L32, Croatia or Colombia in L16. Middling/reasonable?
Spain come second, Argentina L32, Egypt or Paraguay in L16. Nasty.

This is the group I keep coming back to. Spain are going to want to win their third game against Uruguay. With that in mind, could their rotation come in the second game against Saudi Arabia?

[raoul]

Spain win group, Austria or Algeria in L32, Croatia or Colombia in L16. Middling/reasonable?
Spain come second, Argentina L32, Egypt or Paraguay in L16. Nasty.

This is the group I keep coming back to. Spain are going to want to win their third game against Uruguay. With that in mind, could their rotation come in the second game against Saudi Arabia?

Or game 1 if they get a few goals early?

Can't see Uruguay matching Spain for goals so 3 or 4 should be enough then sub the starters?

[blahblah]

They'd still need a draw in the third and probably try to get minutes into Yamal and Nico

[Jimmy1987]

10 teams in both the £10 and £1 games for me with a mix of Haaland, Oyarzabel and Havertz captains. Not 1 Ronaldo in any team and think I only have 2/3 Mbappe in my 10 teams. Good luck to everyone