World Cup FF - Provisional Squad

Casillas

Maicon  G.Johnson  Lahm

Schweinsteiger  Sneider  Lampard   Ribery

  Messi  Fabiano(C)  Villa

Subs:

GKs - Mucha, Escober (filler)

DFs - Zambrotta, Assou-Ekotto, Belhadj, Smith (filler)

MFs - Cahill, Hamsik, Clapham (filler), Yun Nam (filler)

FWs - C.Ronaldo, Welcome (filler)

This is what I'm looking at on my team/squad pages at the moment - I think it's ok (5 fillers, 18 as genuine options) but it's probably not my final squad (RvP may come in). Anyway, I honestly don't think we'll know exactly how we should be picking teams until after the first round of games are completed & we can analyse the scoring.

I'll admit the rules are quite complicated, but I've finally got my head round them & I think it makes for a pretty interesting game. I'd say it's the most complex of all the Fantasy World Cup games I've seen, which is probably suitable for us here on the blog as Yahoo FF is the most complex Premier League game!

As far as I can tell these are the rules we need to know for the 1st round starting on Friday

- You must pick 23 players for your squad

- You can only choose 2 players from any country

- Only 11 players out of your 23-man squad can score points for you in a round

- You therefore pick a starting 11 and choose a captain

- Your captain scores double points

- 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.

- If you'd like to get involved then you can make substitutions from your bench each day.

- You can replace any player that wasn't sent off with one from your bench who is yet to play.

- You can 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.

- An unlimited number of substitutions can be made but only 11 players with one captain can score points each round.

- You might use a substitution to replace a player who didn't play OR if you're disappointed by a player's score in that round and want to take a gamble that a player on your bench will score higher.

- 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.

- If you don't think you'll have time to make any substitutions, don't worry. 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.

You score points as follows:

Playing 1-30 minutes = 1 point
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
For every 2 balls delivered into the penalty area * = 1
For every 5 balls given away players** = -1

* Ball entry into attacking penalty area whilst maintaining possession: Player making run, Player passing, Player receiving, Cross.
** Total lost balls - sum of wrong passes (except wrong clearances) and losing possession tackles suffered

Defending bonus
For recovering a ball* = 1

For every 3 fouls committed** = -1

* The sum of gaining possession tackles and clearances completed
** A foul where a free kick is awarded

-You can use the Transfers page to change your squad for the next round. The number of free transfers which can be made are as follows:

Round 1         Unlimited     (2 players per team)
Round 2         1 transfer     (2 players per team)
Round 3         1 transfer     (2 players per team)
Round of 16  Unlimited     (4 players per team)
Qtr Finals       4 transfers    (6 players per team)
Semi-finals     4 transfers   (8 players per team)
Final/Playoff   4 transfers    (8 players per team)

- Additional transfers will deduct 3 points per transfer. In overall and classic leagues, these points are deducted from your total. In head-to-head and World Cup Mode matches these points are deducted from your match score in the next round.
- If you do not use all your free transfers, the remaining free transfers roll over to the next round. These are cumulative throughout the tournament, and will span over the unlimited free transfer period between the group and knockout stages.
- Invariably at the end of the group stages, some of the lower value players will be eliminated from the competition. To account for this in the knockout stages your team budget will be increased by 5 units before the Round of 16, with a further 5 units before the Semi-finals.
Player values

- After the start of McDonald's FIFA World Cup Fantasy, player values can rise or fall based on how many times a player is being bought or sold in the transfer market. Factors determining price changes include:

    * How many managers have the player in their team
    * Is (or has) the player been injured or suspended
    * How much the player's value has already changed this round

-Player values will change at 00:00 South African Time, and any change will be 0.1 units. Player values will continue to change throughout the McDonald's FIFA World Cup Fantasy, however players who have been eliminated will not change in value.
-There is no sell-on fee or budget cap. Selling players at a greater price than you paid is a valid strategy for increasing your available budget.
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I hope this helps some of you who have been confused, it's quite an awesome game when you read through it all but I didn't have a clue until I read through everything last night!

I'm a touch annoyed as I'm unlikely to have time to make any substitutions, so I may leave my team and take advantage of the 'automatic subs' in Round 1. However, I will spend plenty of time arranging my bench to ensure the correct players are subbed in. I'll also be spending plenty of time planning my transfers between each round.

You can still join the blog league!

The website: http://en.mcdonalds.fantasy.fifa.com/M/home.mc
The code to join the Blog League: 107956-25552

That's it for now...

Cheers,
AM