Fantasy World Cup Preview Group B

Fantasy World Cup Preview Group B

GROUP B: AUSTRALIA, NETHERLANDS, CHILE, SPAIN
Our World Cup previews continue at a pace and we would like to extend a very warm welcome and thank you to Josh721 as he gives us his take on Group B, the teams involved, which players he recommends that you should pick and who is likely to progress from the group.

Some of you will have registered already but if not the site that we are using for this years game is Mcdonalds Fantasy World Cup, you can register here. You can register now and you can begin to pick your squad from June 8th ahead of the big kick-off on June 12th. We will publish the FF247 league codes as soon as the league option is open on there. In the meantime we encourage you to plan ahead and as such here’s Group B for you all…

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Australia
Overview
Let’s start with the minnow of the group, Australia. Ranked number 59 at the time of writing, this is their 3rd straight World Cup after failing to qualify from 1974-2006. They are also in one of the toughest groups in the tournament and, combined with a new coach, will find it hard to get any points in their group. Well, at least you’re in the World Cup, so enjoy it as much as you can.

Fantasy Player Perspective
There aren’t too many choices from this team as there are other better teams to select from. Red Bulls forward Tim Cahill could be worth a look as one of the Socceroos’ star players. I would stay away from their defenders as the chances that they keep any of Chile, the Netherlands, or Spain from scoring isn’t exactly zero, but it is pretty close.

Fixtures
Their first game is against Chile, followed by the Netherlands. They probably won’t win either of those, although they could play the role of spoiler and get a draw. If you’re going to get any of their players, they should be dispensed of prior to their last game against Spain.

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Netherlands
Overview
Moving up the FIFA rankings (which we know are perfectly, 100% accurate), we find the Netherlands, or Holland, coming in at number 15. After finishing as runners-up in the 2010 final, they followed that up with an unspectacular showing at the European Championships in 2012. They went through their qualifying group undefeated with 9 wins and a draw and are considered one of the favorites to advance out of the group stage. However, they haven’t won any of their last 4 games, with their most recent win coming against Romania in March of 2013.

Fantasy Player Perspective
The Netherlands have many attacking options to choose from. Everyone’s favourite Dutch striker, Robin van Persie, will look to get back to scoring ways after missing out on a big part of the season through injury. He will have a very talented group supporting him that includes Arjen Robben, Jeremain Lens, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, and Rafael van der Vaart. In defense they have Bruno Martins Indi, who scored 2 goals in qualifying.

Fixtures
The Oranje kick off their campaign with a rematch against 2010 World Cup winners Spain, so expect that to be a tight one. Maybe this match will have less yellow cards in it… After that, they get to play Australia, who actually tied the Netherlands last time they played each other in 2009. I have a feeling the score line will be a little bit different this time around. Then they close out the group with a tough match against Chile. This game could potentially decide who will advance out of the group along with Spain, so this could be a thriller.

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Chile
Overview
Next we have Chile, who should also consider themselves in with a chance to get out of this group. Ranked 13 in the world, they are certainly no pushovers. They finished 3rd in CONMEBOL qualifying, earning them a spot in this tournament. Chile have lost their last 2 friendlies, but given that they were against 2 of the strongest teams in the world, Brazil and Germany, that’s nothing to be too concerned about.

Fantasy Player Perspective
It might be wise to steer clear from Chile’s defenders as they conceded 25 goals in 16 games in qualifying. However, some of their attacking players are worth a look. Notably, Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sanchez. Also keep an eye on Eduardo Vargas, who scored 5 goals in qualifying to match Vidal’s total. They will be sure to cause problems for other teams’ defenses.

Fixtures
Chile start their campaign against lowly Australia, so I would expect them to get a win in that game. Their next game sees them play Spain, which won’t be as one-sided as some might think. They played to a 2-2 draw the last time they played in September of last year. Chile’s final game comes against the Netherlands, which as I noted earlier, will most likely be the deciding game in terms of who will advance.

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Spain
Overview
Finally we get to Spain, and yes they are still ranked number 1 in the world. Winners of Euro 2008, World Cup 2010, and Euro 2012, there really isn’t much to say about Spain that you don’t know already. La Furia Roja went undefeated in qualifying, conceding only 3 goals while scoring 14. So yeah, they’re pretty good. They had a small hiccup in the 2013 Confederations Cup where they lost to Brazil 3-0 in the final. That loss should be enough to motivate them to win the group since whichever team finishes second in this group will meet the winner of Group A, which will most likely be Brazil.

Fantasy Player Perspective
If I were to have any players from Spain (why wouldn’t you?), I might actually choose to invest in their defenders rather than their attacking players. Spain don’t actually score that many goals and seem to prefer to pass the opposition to death with their possession. So Sergio Ramos or Gerard Pique are good bets to keep a clean sheet, because how can the other team score if they never have the ball? Having said that, their star forward (Fernando Torres) Diego Costa will look to have a big impact in the World Cup. He is set to make his official debut at a tournament playing for Spain instead of his birth country and tournament hosts, Brazil.

Fixtures
Vicente del Bosque’s team will have to start quickly in the group stage because their first game is against 2010 World Cup finalists Netherlands. Then they have a tough game against Chile, followed by Australia. Spain and Australia have actually never played each other before at the senior level. However, expect Spain to get the win and advance to the knockout stage.

Group Summary
The winner of Group B will play the runner-up of Group A, and conversely the runner-up of Group B will play the winner of Group A. Much depends on how seriously Spain and the Netherlands take their last games then assuming both have already done enough to qualify. The potential opponents for whoever progresses then are Brazil, Croatia, Mexico or Cameroon. That feels like a mouth watering Round of 16 game on the cards already should it transpire that Brazil face either of the favourites from this group. Whisper it quietly then but the third games in this group could be spent trying to engineer whatever result means the teams involved avoid Brazil next!

Thanks for reading Fantasy World Cup Preview Group B this article was written by Josh721