Fantasy World Cup Is Open
The website: http://en.mcdonalds.fantasy.fifa.com/M/home.mc
The code to join the Blog League: 107956-25552
We have almost 400 teams in the league already & there's no limit, so please join us!
As you're aware I don't actually have experience of this fantasy game, it's my first time playing it too, so it's unlikely I'll be posting up any players picks posts or anything, but I'll post my squad up once I've selected it & give league updates etc. To be honest I'm just too excited about the World Cup & I'll be watching pretty much every game, so I don't think I'll have time for much blog writing over the next 4 weeks!
If any of our readers have any player picks/tips then please feel free to post them in the comments section below this post & I'll hopefully be able to chip in with some advice of my own once I've sat down & looked at the options over the next 48 hours!
Cheers,
AM
41 comments:
Owwww yeahhh !!
MY WC FF TEAM:
1ST ROUND
3-4-3 formation
GK
Mucha (SVK - 3M) - he is Slovakian 1st choice GK and they play against New Zealand... Maybe the best pick of 1st round
DEFENDERS
Glenn Johnson (ENG - 7,5M) - i think that England will concede just 1 or 2 goals in first round so England defender is a good pick... i will go with him because of his attacking abilities
Maicon (BRA - 8M) - he is 3rd in assists in Serie A this season and Brazil plays very defensive with 2 defensive midfielders... he will get CS in 1st game and after that i don't care
Belhadj (ALG - 3M) - listed as defender and plays in midfild/winger role for Algeria
------------------------------------------------
MIDFIELDERS
Cahill (AUS - 6M) - plays and striker sometimes even as lone striker for his team... this could be high scoring group and he will do good
Hamshik (SVK - 6M) - captain, best player, and PK shooter in his team... They play against New Zealand and i think he will score for sure in that game... World class midfielder, just 23 years old
Lampard (ENG - 9,5) - no good reasons for picking him... choose not to pick rooney(becuse of injurie doubts, that is main reason i pick Frank... picked him becuase he will take PK's and England play against Slovenia and Algeria in 2nd and 3rd round so he may get goal or two in that proces
SCHWEINSTEIGER (GER - 8,5M) - With Ballack injured he and Ozil will have to do all creative job for Germany... Pick him over Ozil because he played in last WC and he takes PK's for his team
------------------------------------------------
FORWARS
FABIANO ( BRA - 10M) - He will be mine captain in first round... Brazil play against North Korea and i think that he will score hattrick in that game...
Messi (10M) and Higuain(8,5 M) or any striker that will start for Argentina... Nice group to get some goals... But i have nice subs if this experiment goes wrong... they play on 2nd day of WC and if someone of them do bad i will pick Villa or CR7 as sub...
------------------------------------------------
SUBS:
GK: Casillas - ESP -(8M) - he will be my GK for 2nd and 3rd round
ESCOBER - filler - 1M
DF: CHIELLINI 7M
ZAMBROTTA 6M
i will pick them against new zealand and i have 2 fillers for 1M each - MENDOZA and MULLIGAN
MF: GOURCUFF and SIMAO as sure starters and set piece takes + 2 fillers for 1M K. KYONG IL nad BROCKIE
FW: RONALDO and VILLA - Spaim has nice group and Villa will take PK's... Stayed out in 1st round because Swiss team is very hard to break but he will have a lot of chances against Chile and Honduras
AM - Here's and idea, why dont you just post an open discussion regarding the players, we could all just share our opinions, and then you choose at the end ??
other good picks imo:
alg: ziani
arg: di maria
aus:bresciano
bra: lucio,robinho,kaka(if fit)
cam: etoo,webo
chi: -
civ: eboue
den: agger,kjaer
eng: terry,a cole,rooney,gerrard
fra: lloris,evra,sagna,ribery
ger: lahn,ozil
gha: KPB,mensah,gyan
gre: -
hon: guevarra,figueroa
ita: de rossi,pazzini(if starts)
jap: -
korea n: -
korea s: lee,park
mex: guardado,vela
ned: persie,sneijder,mathijsen,kuyt
n ze: -
nig: nsofor obinna,odemwingie
par: roque santa cruz or cardozzo wait for news
por: pepe,carvalho,simao,ronaldo
ser: vidic,ivanovic,kolarov,krasic,milijaš
svk: mucha,hamshik,šestak
slo: koren
soa: mphela,pieenar
spa: pique,ramos,xavi,cesc,iniesta,torres
swi: n'kufo, barnetta
uru: lugano,caceres,suazo,forlan,lodeiro
usa: howard,donovan
@Bojan- suazo plays for chile
hi everyone, is it 23 players for 7 rounds? if no, then no any chance for bench?
im confuse.
gkinz
my line-up 3-4-3:
casillas
lahm cannavaro a.cole
kaka lampard ribery sneijder
fabiano(c) villa v.persie
my plan was to get as many pk-,corner-,freekick takers as much as possible.
i've got only one good goalkeeper and i'm sticking with him until the 1/16 definitely, cause spain has the easiest group, if you can say that & spain play their we-don't-ever-give-a-ball-away-game.
defenders, lahm & a.cole can win some corners, can get a assist, crosses. third choice was cannavaro, cause it's italian defense.
midfield - they all can produce some magic, take pk's, freekicks, playmakers.
forward line was the hardest, i chose v.persie over rooney, cause persie has been on fire lately and holland always scores a lot of goals.
fabiano & villa are no-brainers, expect a lot goals.
i meant suarez from uruguay... and they are 2 suazo's... one from honduras and one from chile
Transfers
Use the Transfers page to change your squad for the next round. The number of free transfers which can be made are as follows:
Next round Deadline Free transfers Players/Team
Round 1 11/06/10 15:45 Unlimited 2
Round 2 16/06/10 20:15 1 2
Round 3 22/06/10 15:45 1 2
Round of 16 26/06/10 15:45 Unlimited 4
Quarter-finals 02/07/10 15:45 4 6
Semi-finals 06/07/10 20:15 4 8
Final and 3/4 playoff 10/07/10 20:15 4 8
"hi everyone, is it 23 players for 7 rounds? if no, then no any chance for bench?
im confuse.
gkinz"
You choose 23 for 3 rounds and then next 23 for next 4 round
you can make 2 free transfer before round 2 and 3 (1 transfer before each).
In knock out stage tou can make 4 free transfer before next round.
Every bonus transfer costs you 3points (from your score).
You can read some more here (i might wrote something wrong so be forgiving):
http://en.mcdonalds.fantasy.fifa.com/M/help.mc?category=transfers
Does anyone know any websites which will have details of predicted teams, set piece takers etc for each country? Would really help me pick my side.
Thanks
this fantasy game is pretty cool.. just having to pick a full squad from a lot of players i know nothing about makes it that much more interesting.. i did a quick look at a lot of the friendly scores to pick out some lesser known goalscorers (mostly on my bench)..
Thanks Bojan for a all the good info and analysis (as usual)
here's my lineup at the moment:
mucha (escober,sorensen)
johnson,gallas,zambrotta,bastos (heinze,ivanovic,agger)
schweinsteiger,sneijder,hamsik,dimaria (meireles,milijas,pienaar,nakamura)
davidvilla,robben-C (novakovic,mphela,webo)
thanks miecio. i got it.
gkinz
@bijan
what is meaning by number of players/team column?
gkinz
@bojan
what is meaning by number of players/team column?
gkinz
I've been watching friendlies when I can, so there are a few players I like from those warmup matches.
One solid tip that I can give is Lucas Barrios for Paraguay. He was just nationalized from Argentina; I saw him in the friendly against Ivory Coast and he looked really good, scoring a goal and playing very well. He's 5.5 so cheap for a forward. He's scored 3 in 3 appearances with Paraguay (also 19 this seasson for B.Dortmund in Germany, and previously 49 in 51 for his club in Chile). More on him:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/793164/ce/uk/?cc=5901&ver=us
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=1205052/index.html?cid=rssfeed&att=
The Dutch look really solid from what I've seen. I think Van Persie is really benefiting from missing the grueling season that many of the other strikers endured. He & Sneijder are definitely in my team.
Ozil showed tremendous creativity when I saw them. I think Schwein. is a good pick only for the set piece--but he tends to get fouls and he's not really a big goal scorer otherwise. So I'm betting that Ozil finds more points. And I have Mertesacker in defense as my other German--solid starter who doesn't tend to foul.
With Drogba out, I'm thinking Eduardo in goal from Portugal (for everything except the Brazil game). That's a risk, others could score for the Elephants, so I'm still thinking about that one. I have Hart for now, and I'd love to know that he's free & clear the starter--I think he'd be the best choice for England (whether DJ is healthy or not). But may sell him off if I get a clearer notion of Capello's thinking.
I'm American, so take it with a grain of salt, but there are 2 very interesting forwards from the US who are cheap. Edson Buddle scored like 9 in 6 games to start the MLS season. He plays with Landon Donovan at LA, so there's a great partnership there. He is still red hot--scoring two against Australia and a great pass that should have been finished (and thus an assist for him). Altidore will probably start, though he is nursing a knock. And it's not certain Buddlewould be his strike partner (Findley is really a better compliment on style, but not form as he was awful in the friendly). Still Buddle is only 3.5, and there's no way that his great form doesn't see him get on the field. I have him and if he's starting I will try to fit him in.
Hercules Gomez is the other US striker who is 3.5 and on great form. He has been a second half sub and scored in the last 2 friendlies, and he was the Mexican leagues top scorer. I'm sure he'll see some minutes, too. But when is less clear. Still on goals-per-minute he has 2 in probably 30 minutes of play. So a couple US filler ideas to consider.
Otherwise... I have a really hard time finding room for anyone from Argentina. Because, well, because Maridona is INSANE. So who knows who he will start or if he will change the team each game, etc. I had Tevez, but decided to drop him. Anyone besides Messi it just seems like there's so much talent and it's very hard to know they are a safe way to spend limited funds.
VERY excited about the tournament and the fantasy. Good luck to everyone.
Guys,
Also note the "in round" substitution ability. My reading of the rules would be that you would be best to select all the players playing the earliest in each round. If they bomb, transfer in one of your other players that hopefully will score more points in that round. Substitutions open for business from midnight SA time up to 15 mins before game.
Therefore Im not sure in the squad whether youre best off picking the studs with some bargain basement players or a more even distribution.
Note also you get to keep the uplift in value of the players to trade into the future (so consider some of the Offical EPL game strategy in your picks) Can we pick up some undervalued players in the early rounds to parlay into a stud in the later rounds?
Also in Official EPL game the point penalty for extra transfers is generally best ignored in favour of having the best team. 4 point penalty doesnt seem a lot to make sure you have the best team. I would intend of sacrificing a few points in round 1 and 2 to catch the undervalued players. Judging by the wording on the valuation though, get in quick.
Worzel
Good discussion already!!
Looking at the scoring system I think defenders might be more important than in other games
They have the advantage of higher clean sheet bonuses, playing bonuses (defenders tend to be subbed less) and the wing backs will be subject to the ball into the area delivery score (successful cross)...
I think to load up on wing backs playing for the big teams has to be a good strategy...
Playing 1-30 minutes 1
Playing 31-60 minutes 2
Playing 61+ minutes 3
Goal 5
For each goal assist 3
Goalkeeper clean sheet * 6
Defender clean sheet * 4
Midfielder clean sheet * 1
For every 2 saves - Goalkeeper 1
For every save - Outfield player 1
For every penalty save 5
For every penalty miss -2
Foul causing a penalty -1
For every 2 goals conceded by your goalkeeper or defenders -1
Own goal -2
Yellow card -1
Red card (includes any yellow card points) ** -3
*A clean sheet is defined as conceding 0 goals and playing 61+ minutes.
**If a player receives a red card, he will continue to be penalised for goals conceded by their team.
Attacking bonus
Action Points
For every 2 balls delivered into the penalty area 1
For every 5 balls given away players -1
Defending bonus
Action Points
For recovering a ball 1
For every 3 fouls committed -1
So let me get this right, during the first "round" of group games, you can subsitute players in and out of your first team so that 23 players end up playing? So you're better off picking a good squad and rotating rather that having a super first XI and filling the bench with new zealanders.
Or, are you better picking a fresh XI for each day and taking the hit of 3 points per player for the guys who come in? which you gain back if you're player plays more than 60 mins?
No that's incorrect Birty...an unlimited number of substitutions can be made but only eleven players with one captain can score points each round.
Here are the rules on substitutions
--------------------
Once the round commences, you have a choice: You can either take a 'hands off' approach and wait for automatic substitutions to happen at the end of the round, or you can get more involved and make some substitutions as the round progresses.
At the start of each day (00:00 South African time) during the round, a substitution window opens. In this window you can:
* Replace any player that wasn't sent off with one from your bench who is yet to play.
* Change your captain, providing he wasn’t sent off, with someone whose team is yet to play.
On a matchday, the substitution window will close 15 minutes before the first kick-off.
The player chosen to bring in must adhere to the formation rules. E.g. if you only have 3 defenders in your starting 11, you may not replace a defender for another midfielder as there is no legal formation with only two defenders.
An unlimited number of substitutions can be made but only eleven players with one captain can score points each round.
Here are some reasons you may choose to make substitutions:
* One of your players goes off injured after a few minutes
* Your captain wasn't selected to play in the round.
* You are a gambler and decide that one of your substitutes will score more points than someone who already played in the round
Things to note about substitutions
* If you remove a player who has scored points for your team, these points will be lost. The player cannot be brought back into your team until the next round.
* It is not possible to make substitutions after matches on the last day of the round.
* If a substitution or captain change is made then no automatic substitutions will take place on your team that round.
Automatic substitutions
Once the data for all the matches in the round has been determined as final, automatic substitutions will be made providing no substitutions or captain changes have been made.
If any of your players play no part in the round, the computer will try to substitute the inactive player with the highest priority replacement from the same position who did play. If your captain does not play then the bonus will be lost, another player will not take over the captaincy in their place.
how do you change your formation?
also keep in mind it's unlimited transfers leading up to round 1, then it's only 1 transfer before round 2 & 3. Then unlimited transfers for the Round of 16, then 4 transfers after that.
The rules are pretty well described here:
http://en.mcdonalds.fantasy.fifa.com/M/rules.mc?category=subs
I think the key part of the subs will be this one...
* If you remove a player who has scored points for your team, these points will be lost. The player cannot be brought back into your team until the next round.
So its definitely worth picking a balanced squad rather than a superstar list, but it looks like you will be able to swap players out every day from midnight SA time who you have in your squad.
So you might as well pick players who are playing early in the "round" because you can just swap them out if they don't do anything. The risk being of course that the so called better players don't do any better (or worse!)
Does anyone know what to make of the automatic replacement thing?
Guys? Do I understand it correctly or there is a profit in choosing players who play earlier because they can be easily subbed?
For example:
If I pick these strikers who play in this order:
Messi, Rooney, Robben, Ronaldo, Torres.
The best tactic is to choose messi as captain (if he produce nothing, make rooney captain, if he produce nothing, choose robben as captain...)
and Messie, Rooney, Robben make my squad (if someone produce not as many points as i want then sub?)
I think the 'auto replacement thing' is for people who justwant to pick a team then not get involved in substituting.
Once you make a sub then the auto sub feature doesn't work.
The auto sub feature makes sure you have best chance of 11 players scoring if you are playing with a hands off approach.
i've read them rules about a dozen times and still don't understand them! AM, from what you say, I'm probably better off picking an amazing first 11 of players who will probably play in all three of the first rounds and spending the remaining money on the new zealand team.... or at least that's what I'll be doing.
birty i have 4 players for $1, one in each position, only 2 at $9.5 and i only have 1 player for $10. so i went for 15 players regardless of their cost. these are the best choices for me in each position. i just wanted active midfielders, and defenders, crosses, assists. usually i take free kick takers, in the champions league game that is similar, but know i am going for crossers and assists from my midfield and defense.
and a tip for all of the defensive loving folks. your captain gets double, so negative points for goalies and defenders, that are captains get doubled, as well. i am also staying clear of the traditionally red card and yellow card guys.
dont pick to many fillers because you can only make a single transfer at end of every set of group matches so with injuries it will mean your back up players are just as important as first 11.
also dont forget some teams will rest players if they have qualified after there first two games in there group eg spain and holland have a easy group and will play reserves in there last game.
am going with just two fillers of one million a midfielder and defender.
How frequent is the scoring points updated, is it base on weekly or just after the game alone?Is there any two or three gamers?
Rgds.
Ajani
Xavi, Iniesta or Cesc?
I have Xavi but am thinking Cesc may be a better option...
my roster:
Schwarzer
Howard
Sorenson
Subotic Evra Samuel Zambrotta Agger Papadopoulos King
Milijas Gourcuff Schweinsteiger Dempsey Fabregas Lee Lampard Park
Suazo Forlan Quagiarella Torres Blanco
@ macgill and bojan, Suazo is the best player on Honduras actually.
he was a best player, but he lost a lot of his pace after string of injuries... he was fantastic 2 years ago...
nanni out of WC
@ LOL admiral
Im wondering if we're playing the same game, or if we've interpreted the rules differently...
It's amazing really that we only have ONE player in common on our teams - either I'm totally in gagaland (which is possible) or you've been on another binge & just hit "autocomplete" to make up your team !
I'm wondering who will get the least points though :)
Here's my effort (so far!)
GK
Stekelenberg Buffon Romero
DF
Cole Puyol Ivanovic Mavric Skrtel Carvalho Cannavaro
MF
Nani Baptista Cahill Alvarez Pienaar Elliot Ozil
Milijas
FW
Fabiano Villa VPersie Mphela Killen
Looks like Im not going to be posting a Fab Fillers picks for this game (as they're all from NZealand!)
@ Birty
Have to agree with you about the rules : Ive seen easier instructions inside Ikea DIY kitchen units.
Good luck
Pauly
that's only provisional, i just wanted to see how well i could spread the dough around!
Think I've decided on my first XI;
Stekellenburg
Heinze, Maicon, Lahm
Kaka, Fabregas, Ribery, Pig Climber
Robben, Messi, Rooney
I've got a reserve in each position that's cheap and i wouldn't mind playing if one of these 11 get an injury. Schwarzer, Assou Ekotto, JS Park and Dindane and the others are meh.
Ha ha ha
ALN I also have only one player in common with you (Dempsey) and Pauly only 3 with you (Cahill, Van Persie, Fabiano). Must be lots of options available overall.
I think the rules will be clear when it starts but definitely having the balanced squad as you can change if a player doesn't perform before the end of the round...
Hey guys,
My current team:
GK: Casillas
DF:Sagna,Cannavaro,A.Cole
MF: Gourcuff,Lampard,Kaka,Schweinsteiger
FW:Fabiano,D.Villa,Van Persie(Capitain)
I'm pretty pleased with it for now, and i have at least 2 good subs in each position.
Kakashi
wow, fantasy also having WC!
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