So today I offer you my personal XI, with a quick sentence on why I selected them. Good luck to you and your Fantasy team and, if you haven’t signed up yet, be sure to do so here.
GK: Alisson - Brazil, £6.1m, owned in 9.25% of teams
He has been phenomenal for both Roma and Brazil over the last year and sits perfectly at the nexus of ability and matchups.
DEF: Joshua Kimmich - Germany, £6.4m, owned in 13.79% of teams
Kimmich is, without doubt, the best defender in the Goal game having led all players in assists during qualifying whilst part of a top five defence at this tournament.
DEF: Thomas Meunier - Belgium, £6.1m, owned in 8.85% of teams
Only five players contributed towards more goals (goals+assists) than Meunier’s 12 and Belgium should have little trouble keeping clean sheets against Panama and Tunisia.
DEF: Sime Vrsaljko - Croatia, £5.8m, owned in 1.39% of teams
He’s being slept on at the moment but Vrsaljko picked up three assists and six clean sheets in qualifying and will not face a top 10 attack in the group stage.
MID: Mohamed Salah - Egypt, £7.3m, owned in 15.9% of teams
Obviously this depends on his fitness, but he scored 63 per cent of Egypt’s qualifier goals is in the easiest group, and starts the tournament with a double gameweek.
MID: David Silva - Spain, £6.8m, owned in 8.77% of teams
Silva found his shooting this boots this season for both club (nine) and country (five) and is as close to a guaranteed starter as you’ll find this summer.
MID: Mile Jedinak - Australia, £5.6m, owned in 0.37% of teams
The Aston Villa man notched five penalties for Australia en route to Russia and, considering his heinously low cost and ownership, he’s a gamble I’m willing to take.
MID: Christian Eriksen - Denmark - £7.2m, owned in 10.3% of teams
He led all midfielders in goals during qualifying (11) and both scored and assisted in Denmark’s final tune-up against Mexico, just to firm up his standing as an elite option in the Goal game.
FOR: Olivier Giroud - France, £7.3m, owned in 3.15% of teams
Giroud had just as many goals as Griezmann on the road to Russia and, if he doesn’t start, you can always replace him midweek with someone who will.
FOR: Edinson Cavani - Uruguay, £8.0m, owned in 5.22% of teams
He led all of South America in scoring during South American qualifiers (10) and will get plenty of opportunities to score as no opponent in Group A has a top 20 defence.
FOR: Cristiano Ronaldo - £8.2m, owned in 27.06% of teams
Ronaldo has a surprisingly tough group, but he had more combined goals (18) than any other player in qualifying and, you know, is Ronaldo.