Wednesday 7 July 2010

Dutch Make Final

The first semi final was an entertaining affair, as Holland progressed to the World Cup Final for the first time in three decades with a 3-2 victory over Uruguay.

The Dutch were in control for the majority of the game after Van Bronckhorst's absolutely stunning opener (possibly my favourite goal of the tournament so far) and ran out deserved winners despite Forlan again getting his country back in to the game at 1-1 and a brief rally in injury time after Maxi Pereira's consolation threatened the comfortable lead Sneijder and Robben had provided.

In fantasy terms I had a decent night, with 61 points coming my way; Robben (C) scoring me 26, Sneijder 11, Forlan 8, Pereira 8, Mathijsen 4 & Stekelenberg 4.

I have Puyol, Schweinsteiger, Xavi, Ozil & Villa to play tonight, and will probably sub in Casillas & Lahm for  Stekelenberg & Mathijsen. That will leave me Iniesta & Klose on the bench as unused subs.

I'd like to get reader opinions on the above - do you think it's worth me going with Iniesta over Xavi, Ozil or Schweinsteiger? What about Klose coming in for Forlan, do you think the German goal machine can exceed 8 points to make the trade worthwhile?

Let me know how you're getting on in this round so far & your predictions for tonight. I'm thinking Spain may sneak it 2-1, possibly in extra time, but as I wrote in my previous post....never write off the Germans!

Cheers,
AM

12 comments:

CFCBOSS said...

to be honest, i'd leave klose on the bench, 8 points is decent and the game should be very close.
i once made this mistake few rounds a go, i would not risk.
i'd go iniesta over xavi, iniesta is more attacking and should've scored last game, xavi takes most set pieces, possible assist, reason why i have both.
özil or schwein is hard to pick, if özil doesn't score or get a assist, then schweini will out score him, i think, so based on your thought what the result would be.
why no ramos? he's a point machine, have got geat points, even without clean sheet, attacking bonus is high, could get a goal.

made some subs, got villa(c), özil, xavi, iniesta, ramos, casillas to play this round.
i were really lucky, m.pereira got a goal, as did bronckhorst for me, captain didn't pay off.

carefree said...

i really think that germany is going to win this game, even without the phenomenal muller..and i think this could easily be a several goal game for both teams. spain has struggled to score the last few games, although they have had phenomenal runs and play throughout the tournament. ozil and schwein have played great throughout the tournament and i expect that to continue. a 3-2 german victory is not out of the question, and i expect some serious fantasy points from the german/spanish midfield and villa and klose/podolski, but it could be a gamble as to which german forward has the best game

Anonymous said...

I think i may leave Villa and Klose on bench and keep Forlan and RVP, what do you think?

DeviLxDeviL said...

Dropped Forlan and RVP for Klose and Villa. Hell yeah !!!

Kellz said...

Yea dropped Forlan and RvP aswell, for red hot Villa and ever consistent Podolski. The thing is Forlan scored but really got no other pts besides the goal, and both Podolski and Villa seem to be able to generate attacking bonus and in the germans case, even defending bonus.

My other decision is whether to add in Iniesta or Pique, leaning on Pique considering most points seem to be coming from defenders and he still gets into the box, however I couldn't afford Ramos.

71pts so far but with my subs I am down to 51pts, so not only do I need Villa, Podolski, and Bastian to come up wit hthe difference, but I need my supporting cast to play a big match.

This should be the biggest game of the tournament (besides the final of course :D)

Good luck to Spain!

BTW: Chelsea should eff off if they are trying to woo Torres

Anonymous said...

@AM I have the same MF conundrum. Already have 11 from Sneijder, currently starting Xavi, Iniesta and Schweinsteiger with Ozil on the Bench. Ozil has the fewest Bonus Points of the 4 which seems to be more reliable than counting on someone for a goal or an assist... Still have a couple hours of second guessing though!

-Matt

bean said...

i'd go with Schwein over Ozil, seems he's been slightly outperforming (fantasy wise) Ozil most recently. Same thing with Iniesta over Xavi. I brought in Klose for Kuyt myself, I just have a feeling with Muller out and Miraslov's vast experience and nose for the goal he'll produce some points. I have him in over Podolski on my bench, which is risky, but hopefully will pay off. I think the Germans win it and go on to take the cup.

Good luck everybody.

Rukkie said...

72 but dropped back to 60 after some sub. I have Ramos/casillas/Pique/Lahm/Ozil/Iniesta tonight, not sure if i wanna sub RVP out and Villa in. Might as well risk it but 7 is decent.

chrism said...

whew, the semi final points are posted. I have 96, for a total of 534 netting me 26th in the AM blog and 7926 overall. I guessed right in benching Villa, just a hunch, was wrong on the German defenders who did squat. But Robben as capt, +26 and Cassilas +15 made my day.

Now the final. I noticed that the third place game is being included. This sucks. This really sucks. They will be playing bench players, scoring goals, throwing the whole strategy play to hell. I for one, on a matter of principal, am going to ignore the 3rd place game. I dumped all my Germans and Forlan, and am going with all Dutch and Spanish players. I think all of us are going to have pretty much the same teams, the only real difference will be in which side's goal keeper you pick. That's the only pick that surely shows where your true sentiments lie. Its pretty much all over. Unless someone takes 11 germans and they blow out Uraguay 8-0 or something really weird.

cheers
chrism
velvet underground.

bean said...

well, zee germans disappoint. just seemed they never really went for it. the amount of space they gave Spain throughout the match was pretty dangerous.. not a team you should allow to have complete freedom at the edge of the box.

another disappointing round for my fantasy squad. dropped significantly with only 81 points.. so much for a strong run at the end, damn. was kind of betting on Germany in this one, even though i had 4 from each.

did some quick transfers before the deadline:

casillas,alonso,capdevilla,mueller in
neuer,boateng,vanbommel,podolski out

should be an interesting final.

bean said...

@chrism - i could see germany still fielding a similar starting 11 since most of them are younsters anyway, give them just that little bit more WC experience.. but definitely hard to predict.

i think my mistake for this WC Fantasy has been relying too much on having strong subs on the bench and not getting in on the 1.0 fillers before they were eliminated.

can't wait for Premier League fantasy to start

AdmiraLord Nelson said...

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/12072010/58/world-cup-2010-cruyff-disgusted-dutch-display.html

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