Euro 2016 Fantasy Football – Group C

Euro 2016 Fantasy Football – Group C
Group C contains one team with a vast European Championship history in Germany who have played 43 finals matches, which is a tournament record. In stark contrast the other three teams have played a collective six games between them at finals. It should be no surprise therefore that the three-times winners should be strong favourites to top this group with relative ease. The sliver of doubt here though is that their neighbours Poland actually triumphed over them in qualifying 2-0 in Warsaw at the beginning of qualification before succumbing to the Germans 3-1 in the reverse. Poland have an array of talented players across many of the major leagues in Europe and arrive in the knowledge that they might just have the blueprint for beating their neighbours. Ukraine make their second finals appearance and the first one that they have actually qualified for – their previous being in 2012 when they co-hosted the event and were automatic qualifiers – but they will believe that they are stronger for the experience. There is British interest in this group with debutants Northern Ireland making up the fourth seed. Without doubt the smallest team and nation in the group, what benefits the province is that they play Germany last and will be hoping that two astute performances against the other teams could set them up with something to go for in the final game. Worth remembering too that whilst Poland were only runners-up in their qualifying and indeed that Ukraine needed to come through a play-off, Northern Ireland actually qualified as group winners so should be respected here for that at least.

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Germany
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[/three_fourth]Qualified as: Group D winner

Previous Best: Winners 1972, 1980, 1996

Second favourites with most bookmakers behind hosts France, the current World Champions will be hoping to do a ‘Spain’ and hold both major titles for the next two years.

There has not been much changed in the months and years since the World Cup with a wealth of world class talent across all areas of the pitch from their sweeper-keeper Manuel Neuer and his machine-like defence, through the midfield axis of Kroos and probably Emre Can or Khedira, one of these replacing the injured Gundogan, on to an embarrassingly rich attacking quartet quite often without an out-and-out striker. Usually Mueller, Ozil and Reus operate and interchange behind Mario Gotze but this often changes during the game as they take a fancy.

With Podolski, Schurrle and Gomez as familiar names as alternatives and the emerging talent of Leroy Sane, Julian Draxler and the brilliant Karim Bellarabi of Bayer Leverkusen, Germany could enter two teams and I’d fancy them to meet in the final!

In March, Germany lost 3-2 at home to England and I think with it, England became unofficial world champions being the first team to beat the World Champions since their crowning. But typical Germany, they don’t let their guard down for long and three days later bounced back to smack Italy of all teams, 4-1. Basically Germany have shown us they will win when it matters so whether it is your cash at the bookmakers or your fantasy player selections, it is always worth trusting in Joachim Loew’s side, more often than not they will reward your faith. They finish their preparations for this summer with home friendlies against Hungary and Slovakia and I believe the line-ups in these matches will offer us a huge clue as to who fits in where, especially in those forward positions when the fun stops and they meet Ukraine in Lille on 12 June.

Fantasy Tactic

Die Mannschaft are my personal tips to lift the trophy in Paris on 10th July so it’s no surprise to hear me say I think they’ll canter this group and my advice is to triple-up fantasy-wise. With his habit of nicking goals from corners, I will take Hummels probably along with any two from the front – throw a dart!

Possible starting team:

Neuer (6.0)

Howedes (5.0) Boateng (6.0) Hummels (6.5) Hector (5.5)

Kroos (7.0) Khedira (6.0)

Muller (10.5) Ozil (8.5) Reus (9.5)

Gotze (9.0)

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Northern Ireland
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[/three_fourth]Qualified as: Group F winner

Previous Best: Debut

Little Norn’ take their place at Europe’s top table for the first time and fair play to them, Wales and Republic of Ireland for taking full advantage of UEFA’s ‘let’s welcome the continent to the finals’ policy.

Sadly I think that it will be three matches and out for our brothers across the sea. Although such commentators like myself are doing exactly what Michael O’Neill wants us to do – write them off!

Northern Ireland topped their qualifying group consisting of Romania, Hungary (who each also qualified) Finland, Faroe Islands and a truthfully shambolic Greece side managed by some guy called ‘Ranieri’ (wonder what became of that guy?). They lost just one match and won six so they know exactly how to win matches. Game management when they have a lead is their speciality and scoring first is critical to them in their finals’ matches.

Speaking of scoring, there’s a big tall lad called Kyle Lafferty who used to bang them in for Burnley and Rangers but who currently struggles for game time at club level, scored in six matches in qualifying including in four consecutive games. Steven Davis is without doubt the best player in the squad and also knows where the goal is. He drives the team on well and these two guys would be my only considerations in attack and in all honesty, only if I was looking for a rotational player in any of these positions. Interesting however is that Josh Magennis, the Kilmarnock striker who has scored 10 goals in a struggling team, is classed as a midfielder.

Fantasy Tactic

I would however study their defence closer as I think there is a cheap gem or two to be found there. In recent friendlies, a 3-5-2 (or 5-3-2 more accurately) has been adopted with two wing backs one of which is Conor McLaughlin. The other probably would have been Chris Brunt, but the vastly experienced West Bromwich Albion man misses out through injury. This system is an admission that the manger knows he will need to keep each of their three opponents out and see if that can carry them to a win somewhere along the line. He is a smart manager who knows he can’t go toe-to-toe with Germany or Poland. To this end, a clean sheet (or two) isn’t out of the question and McLaughlin, the Fleetwood Town player, could be a beauty of a 4.5mln rotational enabler (ooooh what a fantasy term!) The other central defenders have vast experience in Gareth McAuley, Jonny Evans, Craig Cathcart, Aaron Hughes and Chris Baird but of these it would be McAuley for me with his 7 international goals to date who would be my second choice.

With six players in total, Northern Ireland are the country with the most players representing the Scottish Professional Football League. Never mind eh? (Ed. zzzzzzz. Move on GP).

Possible starting team:

McGovern (4.5)

Cathcart (4.5) McAuley (5.0) Evans (5.0)

McLaughlin (4.5) Davis (6.0) Baird (4.5) McGinn (6.0) Dallas (5.0)

Magennis (6.0) Lafferty (7.0)

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Poland
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[/three_fourth]Qualified as: Group D runner-up

Previous Best: Group Stage 2008 & 2012

The White Eagles under the stewardship of Adam Nawalka will be aiming to repeat their home qualifying win over Germany in Warsaw in October 2014, undoubtedly the best result of his stewardship. The coach has been in charge since 2013 and has a win ratio of 60% and this will be his first major tournament. The team have had some amazing moments in qualifying like the afore-mentioned victory over Germany and a vital last-day win over the Republic of Ireland but the weaknesses are there – they twice trailed Scotland and needed a goal deep in stoppage time to salvage a draw in the away match.

The goalkeepers will be familiar – Fabianski and Boruc play in the Premier League and Szcsesny previously did – Fabianski is the man who appears to hold the gloves having finished qualifying between the sticks. Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund), Jakub Blaszczykowki (Fiorentina), Grzegorz Krychowiak (Sevilla) and Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) are all huge players for Poland playing at the highest level underpinning their potential to beat anyone on their day.

Fantasy Tactic

The man I personally would keep an eye on is defender Kamil Glik who plays for Torino in Serie A. Being a foreign captain of an Italian club tells all you need to know about his leadership qualities. He is a huge threat from set pieces and a favourite of mine from Europa League fantasy.

‘Kuba’ Blaszczykowski formerly of Dortmund where he formed the ‘Polish Three’ with Piszczek and Lewandowski, has scored 16 goals in full internationals and has averages almost a goal in every seven in his career at both club and national level so consideration could be afforded.

Robert Lewandowski as top scorer in qualifying will also be in my side – 13 goals, admittedly a scoop against Gibraltar, but don’t let that put you off – as I expect he could double up and be tournament top scorer.

Regarded by many as the world’s best ‘proper’ striker, he comes with the price tag in this game which means scrimping may have to take place elsewhere but he scored against every team he faced in qualifying including Germany and could very well easily notch in each game here. An honourable mention here goes to Ajax’s Arkaduisz Milik. He’s a 20 year old striker who made his first big move in Europe to the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen and latterly to Augsburg on loan. He wasn’t able to make his mark but landed at Ajax initially on loan and this past season has 21 goals in 31 matches. The cynic in you may think he has found his level. I’ll stop you there! He managed a fair six goals in qualifying taking his tally to 10 in 24. It’s not too shabby. The reason I mention also – he is a cool 4mln lighter than Lewa.

Possible starting team:

Fabianski (5.0)

Piszczek (5.5) Glik (5.0) Pazdan (4.5) Wawrzyniak (4.5)

Krychowiak (6.0) Maczynski (5.5)

Milik (7.5) Blaszczykowski (7.5) Grosicki (7.0)

Lewandowski (11.5)

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Ukraine

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[/three_fourth]Qualified as: Play-off winner (3-1 on aggregate v Slovenia)

Previous Best: Group Stage 2012

Marseille’s awe-inspiring Velodrome on the 21st June will host Ukraine v Poland in the final match day of the group which each team will realistically view as the runners-up place showdown.

The Yellow-Blue will play for the first time as an independent nation on foreign soil at this Championship and are only here after easing past Slovenia in a play-off but what is it they say about teams scraping in? Memories here of Denmark winning it after coming off the beach in 1992 . . .

OK so this isn’t likely with this team but it is a vastly experienced side we are likely to see in France. The goalkeeper and usual back four are just shy of a collective 250 caps but four of them are over the age of thirty with Vyacheslav Shevchuk of Shakhtar in particular at 37.

Former Bayern Munich midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, now in Kazakhstan playing his club football, is also 37 and has been named in the provisional squad hoping to add to his 142 international caps. The team’s hopes will be pinned on a reliable central strength being the base and a match-winner or two being found or created by one of the two main hopes of Ukrainian football, namely Yevhen Konoplyanka (Sevilla) and Andriy Yarmolenko (Dynamo Kiev).

Club football in Ukraine hasn’t been shamed recently with Europa League final appearances recently by Dnipro and Shakhtar Donetsk but the national team need to make their mark by getting to the knock out stages of the Euros. This expanded tournament may help them but a win and a handsome one at that over Northern Ireland is a must.

Fantasy tactic

I would advise that if the mood takes you, one of the aforementioned Konoplyanka and Yarmolenko could be picked up as they are very attacking players with pedigree in both European and International football with many goals between them for their country (11 for Kono and 23 for Yarmo). They should play either side of the main striker who could be Roman Zozulya of Dnipro who only has three international goals to show for his 24 caps – I wouldn’t consider him on this basis as I expect the two golden boys to make and take most of their own or each others’ endeavours.

Possible starting team:

Pyatov (5.5)

Fedetskyi (5.0) Khacheridi (5.5) Rakitskyi (5.0) Shevchuk (5.5)

Rybalka (5.5) Rotan (6.0) Garmash (5.5)

Konoplyanka (7.5) Zozulya (6.5) Yarmolenko (8.5)

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Summary

You could potentially have five of your fantasy squad from this group made up of three Germans, Lewandowki (or Milik depending on how you want to spread your cash) and potentially an enabler defender from Northern Ireland. For those who in principle don’t like their fantasy eggs in one basket, the three Germans could be eased to two split across the defensive and attacking departments.

I have tipped two Poles here and I would be very disappointed if I didn’t get to use them in the round of sixteen. I expect them to follow Germany through with Ukraine third.

I would think there are other midfielders in the tournament who could be better value than the Konoplyanka and Yarmolenko due to having better fixtures and that is why I personally will be bypassing these despite their obvious talent.

Northern Ireland could provide a bit of value in defence. I would overlook their attackers and focus on a cheap defender who could alternate during a matchday on the off-chance they might just nick a shut-out.

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Neck-on-the-line time

Germany: Mats Hummels, Thomas Mueller and Mesut Ozil

Poland: Kamil Glik, Robert Lewandowski

Ukraine: Yehven Konoplyanka

Northern Ireland: Conor McLaughlin

I hope you enjoy Group C and the tournament.

GP

Thanks for reading Euro 2016 Fantasy Football – Group C. This article was written by The Gallant Pioneer

Follow @mitchellcraig81