Seriously, I love the World Cup. It’s a month of Christmas for us Soccer fans and it has the added benefit of bringing in so many causal sports fans and DFS players. Speaking of which, Slack Chat for the VIP members has been jumpin’ and it has paid off. So much changes based on confirmed lineups & formations and those updates, as well as more in-depth analysis, is the X-factor for our VIP members. Not a VIP? Join now and use code “SNIPER” for 10% off membership. See you in Slack!
For those of you new to DFS soccer, I’ve created an introductory video: DFS Soccer Introduction & Strategy
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Game-By-Game Breakdown
Denmark vs. Australia
On this slate we have the last two teams that DFS players could be totally unfamiliar with as the France/Australia match was on so early in the morning it wasn’t part of the main slate on that day. Australia did well to keep it competitive against a really strong French side, losing 2-1. However, they are still the biggest underdog on the day as Denmark is coming off of a 1-0 win over Peru. But the Danes didn’t look great in that game, trailing in pretty much every statistical category except the score.
Sorry, there’s another but – this game sets up much better for Denmark than against the Peruvians. I especially like Christen Eriksen, he’s the type of accumulating player that I look to in cash games in both the World Cup and the Premier League season. Another player that jumps off the page for me is Nicolai Jorgensen in GPP’s – he’s the starting striker for the largest favorite and he’s 6.7k on DraftKings. A little further down on my list are Yussuf Poulsen, who scored the Danes only goal, and Lasse Schone who came on for the injured William Kvist, offering a bit of salary relief? How about the Australians? If you think Denmark gives up possesion again, or just need a mid-priced midfielder, I would look at Aaron Mooy. For FanDuel, Mile Jedinak could pick up some defensive stats as a holding midfielder (he also took and scored the Australian PK vs. France) and Trent Sainsbury and Mark Milligan are the center backs to rack up clearances and blocks.
Denmark Plays: Christen Eriksen, Lasse Schone, Nicola Jorgensen (GPP), Yussuf Poulsen
AustrailiaPlays: Aaron Moy, Mile Jedinak, Trent Sainsbury (FD), Mark Milligan (FD)
France vs. Peru
France presents a similar problem as Spain – they are really good, and with so many great players it can be difficult to nail down where the production will come from. If you like to rely on shots, Antoine Griezmann is your guy, he’s a solid play but I’ll have a hard time picking him over Eriksen in that range. Someone I like as a salary-saving (comparatively) pivot is Ousmane Dembele who will play the other wing. Paul Pogba is an intriguging GPP option as he was boom or bust all EPL season. I would love to know the status of Djibril Sidible because he is one of the few defenders I would pay up for on this slate, but he’s still questionable. You also can’t finish a write up on France without their lead striker and #10, Kylian Mbappe. He’s a great pivot off of Griezmann, but I don’t think he’s cash viable with the other options on this slate. Honestly, there’s not a lot of good value on France, this is a GPP team for me but one you can’t ignore because of their all-around talent.
Now, on to Peru, and I hesitate because I have to think about my first tilt moment of the tournament, that missed Cueva penalty. While that killed his value on the day, he ultimately didn’t have the role I was expecting anyway. Instead it was Andre Carillo who asked the most questions of the defense. His price is still depressed so he can make value without doing too much, something we are obviously looking for. If you need a further discount at midfield you can go to Edison Flores but I don’t think I’ll have many shares (if any) of Jefferson Farfan despite his strong performance in the opener. As with any underdog who could be on the back foot for a long period of time, we need to know the center backs for FanDuel. In this case it’s Alberto Rodriguez and Christian Ramos.
France Plays: Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele, Kylian Mbappe (GPP), Djibril Sidibe (Questionable)
Peru Plays: Andre Carillo, Edison Flores, Alberto Rodriguez (FD), and Christian Ramos (FD)
Argentina vs. Croatia
I really like Argentina today for a few different reasons. The first is a little selfish: they are predictable from a DFS standpoint. We know how they are going to play, I’ll get to that in a second. The other reason I like them against Croatia is they are coming off of a 1-1 draw against Iceland, they will be in desperate need of three points (to win, not draw). Lionel Messi is the super star who will do a little bit of everything and has high goal scoring odds as well. Sergio Aguero is your GPP option has one of the best strikers in the world. Angel Di Maria is basically Messi-light in that he contributes in all areas, take some set pieces, and can score – he’s just obviously not as good. For me, Argentina is that simple, 1-2-3. Croatia may have won 2-0 against Nigeria, but I honestly wasn’t too impressed with their performance. If they are going to do anything in this match, I suspect it will be up their left side with Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic, and Mario Mandzukic who all have reasonable price tags. Croatia is the most skilled of any of the underdogs and if you think Argentina stumbles, the Croatians could win you a tournament. I don’t really see it that way, but anything can happen in the World Cup. If you’re on the Argentine bandwagon Dejan Lovern and Domagoj Vida are the center backs for Croatia with Lovern the better target of the two on free kicks.
Aregentina Plays: Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria, Sergio Aguero (GPP)
Croatia Plays: Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic, Mario Mandzukic (GPP)
That’s what I have for you today, good luck and I’ll see you in Slack tomorrow morning!