Welcome to the 2018 FIFA World Cup Quarterfinals! The group stage was full of surprises and the round of 16 and a record number of penalty shootouts, I can’t wait to see what the rest of the tournament has in store for us. That goes double for Friday as the game I’m looking forward to the most, Brazil vs. Belgium, takes center stage. The below is a preview of each game and my thoughts on the top player from each team. Remember, a ton changes based on confirmed lineups & formations. Not a VIP? Join now and use code “SNIPER” for 10% off membership. See you in Slack!
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Game-By-Game Breakdown
Uruguay vs. France
Uruguay and Edison Cavani came through in a big way for the DFS Army last time out, scoring a pair of goals. However, the Uruguian suffered an injury in training and is expected to miss this quarterfinal match, which will leave the brunt of the scoring pressure to Luis Suarez. Sorry, there’s a “but” here as I don’t think Suarez is the best cash play for this side, obviously he’s in play for GPPs. Assuming he’s back in the starting lineup, I’ll be looking at Giorgian de Arrascaeta for the savings, he’s role on some corners, and as one of the few creative play makers on the Uruguay roster.
France showed up in a huge way against Argentina and Kylian Mbappe surely made himself some money in the future with his ridiculous performance. The midfielder scored twice and drew a penalty for Antoine Griezmann to drive home. Mbappe has been priced up and Uruguay is loads better than Argentina, though the French are still a sizable favorite. We have the same problem as always with France, lots of good players, all priced up, vying for fantasy production. I’ll dig more into that in Slack but I will offer this up: If you want to zig when everyone else zags, I have fair amount of interest in both Ousmane Dembele and Nabil Fekir depending on who is named the starter.
Brazil vs. Belgium
Let’s BLEEPIN’ Go! Seriously, I can’t wait for this game and I think the winner of this one is going to end up hoisting the trophy. Both teams are loaded but luckily for us (at least for the sake of this article) both teams have a primary number one for cash games. Neymar is going to continue doing Neymar things, it’s just that simple. Look, I know he’s become a bit of a villain/laughing stack with the way he sells fouls and rolls around. But the dude scores fantasy points. He takes free kicks, corners, and penalties, he draws those fouls, shoots in open play, scores plenty, and adds assists. Some people got cute and went to Coutinho last time out, and while that’s fine in tournaments, it’s just not the play in cash games.
I’ve been calling for a Belgium World Cup win since the group stage and I’m a bit bummed they put themselves into this incredible difficult side of the bracket and a quarterfinal match up with Brazil. Lukaku is goal dependent, period. Guys like that are just kryptonite in cash games, it will burn you on occasion (and has in this tournament) but the optimal play is not to roster this boom-or-bust guy in cash games. Eden Hazard is the top guy for me in cash games and he’s finally priced accordingly. He’s the most consistent Belgian for DFS purposes, he shoots enough, sends in some crosses, is the first penalty taker, and the most capable of racking up a goal or an assist. Pricing will be a challenge but Hazard is my top target for this team, though Kevin De Bruyne is interesting at the discount.
That’s what I have for you today, good luck and I’ll see you in Slack tomorrow morning! Remember, a ton changes based on confirmed lineups & formations. Not a VIP? Join now and use code “SNIPER” for 10% off membership.