FF247 McDonald’s Fantasy World Cup Team 2014 – Last 16
With the group stages now complete the good people of McDonald’s have given us all even more work to do but with it the chance to freshen up our squads and restructure according to who has qualified and who we feel has the best chance of success in the next round. From here on in you have unlimited transfers between each round starting with the last 16. The deadline for this is Saturday 28th June at 5pm UK time. Ahead of the competition we published our first ever official FF247 team and so we have great pleasure in now telling you how it has fared so far, what our squad is for the next round and a bit about the strategy behind our choices.
The story so far…
The team itself has amassed 315 points and we are pleased with our performance so far. Our general strategy last time out was to go a bit top heavy and try to maximise points from our strikers while having a more budget friendly midfield and defence but with plenty of options for changing each day. It’s fair to say that while Neymar and Messi pulled us out of a few holes the lack of Colombian midfielder’s kept threatening to bury us! Our choice to fill up with heavy forwards nearly bit us as Ronaldo was the other and while he looked like he was going to flop he just about did us proud with a goal in the final game.
The FF247 team found itself in Potstar B in Pottys Dodgy 32 competition and we are delighted to say that having led from the front we managed to maintain this form until the bitter end and we topped the group with no late dramas and so we progress to the last 16 with a tie against Jon 9838. Jon may have a slight advantage here strategically then with being able to see what we have picked but our attitude is simply ‘that’s our team – beat us then!’ We appreciate that there are a good many teams that bettered our total but still found themselves knocked out but that’s the luck of the draw and you can only beat what’s in front of you. (Wasn’t much!).
Our last 16 team
Strategy
We have tried to spread the team / squad out over the game days to give ourselves plenty of options each day and in particular to give us a viable captiancy option as many times as possible until we land on the one we like! In goal we like the prices more than we like the potential for clean sheets we must admit, but at £3m and £2m the combo of Cillessen and Karnezis was still hard to overlook and served us well in the qualifiers. In defence we have doubled up on Germany and when quizzed why the panel responded ”They’re playing Algeria, duh”, fair enough then. We opted for Sakho over Evra on the basis that “He’s got a lot more points, I think”. Scientific it ain’t but when pushed we were surprised, nay shocked – “I had a look at OPTA stats and he’s made most clearances and has made a serious number of passes”. In layman’s terms that translates to a shed load more points in this format so Sakho it was. Oh and Evra is still on a yellow card which counts going forward.
In midfield we have gone double Colombia which means a triple allied with Yepes at the back. When we asked if this was overkill the panels response was “please don’t mention Colombia and overkill in the same sentence”. We left it at that and backed away slowly. Our choice of Argentinian coverage was a tough one. We were surprised to find that Mascherano was leading the scoring by some way and as such we have plumped for him rather then Di Maria. His ability to tackle and recover balls obviously stands him in good stead for the point bonuses in this game. A goal or two from Di Maria will ruin this theory in a heartbeat as you certainly won’t be hearing the words ‘goal’ and ‘Mascherano’ in any sentence this World Cup! (we secrectly hope we cursed that right there).
Up top we’ve gone fairly obvious here with Neymar and Messi as we suspect many will. There are a good few options for the all important ‘third’ spot namely Benzema, Robben, Van Persie and whisper it quietly Fred! Fred could well be the differential here as he started the Confederations Cup in similar fashion to this and ended up the top scorer. One for the brave though we feel and as such we have gone for Muller of Germany. Essentially not actually an out and out forward but he’s already shown that doesn’t really matter and we feel that Germany will have far too much for Algeria in this one. We hope!
Neymar hat trick then
lol
Morning all – everyone ready for tonight then & team sorted?!
What are people’s thoughts on the matches? I think I’m in the minority but I think a pumped up Uruguay may knock out Colombia, just out of sheer determination as they seek to avenge what they see as injustice for the Cannibal. I hope I’m wrong and they get battered after what Suarez did mind you.
Morning Blue
For me I can see a very energetic up tempo USA defeat Belgium who for me just ain’t clicking.
But the real team too watch is…..
The Money Scouser who in only 2 Rounds of the Group Phase gained 244pts,a truly impressive effort and a dark horse for The Nearly Boys?
Does anyone know when Scotland had their last win in a World Cup Finals Group Stage?
Potty
1974?
Money Scouser or Moany Scouser? I presume the latter :hippo:
Morning lads. Cant wait for today’s games. I’d have to fancy Colombia Cookie, they’ve been on fire so far.
Uruguay will be toothless without Suarez.
Pun most definitely intended
:hippo:
Wrong Cookie.
It was on Thursday the 26th of June 2014
When in POTTY F……Craig Mitchell and his Scottish football knowledge gained him Qualification into The Perfect 32’s Last 16 at the expense of Inittowinit.
Adam will be seething inside regarding this and I expect him to respond in The Nearly Boys League?
Let the Banter begin.
Potty
Don’t be so sure Potty, I’ve been trying to console Init for nearly two days now and there’s nothing more I can do. He’s been lashing out – he’s a broken man Potty. This may take some of your best TLC mate.
Potty/Cookie
The History Maker!
Init took it like a pro but I understand his frustration. Had Vert not scored late on he would probably have gone through.
Guys, what do you think of Enyema against France? He’s the top scoring keeper, and he’ll surely rack up plenty of save points?
Would just like to wish everyone (Mito included) the best of luck in the knockout stage of Potty’s World Cup.
Pick your best team but more importantly, enjoy the football. Its been a brilliant tournament so far.
Brazil and Colombia (after extra time or pens) for me today.
I enjoy matches more when I have some players involved. Dont have any Chilean or Uruguayan so far, so trying to squeeze them in.
Same here, enjoying the worldcup. At first I was sort of down I forgot to manage a McDonalds team. Once it started that went away though. Sort of glad I just have to focus on my country and the matches I like/want to watch.
FPL is a different story. Can’t wait for the next season to start, really curious what Louis van Gaal will do with United.
Morning all, I hope you are all doing well and wish you all luck in the competition and for those with national teams still in the tournament, the best of luck. Unless you are from Uruguay that is. I am a nervous wreck, if Colombia advances today it would be the furthest we have ever made it. So if you have no team, I ask you adopt my boys and pull for them to make history. Ok, back to hiding behind the couch with my barth bag.
Columbia have been playing really well mito!
I think they’ll go through…
I’m only missing 4 players in the sticker album too!
Mito, big congrats on todays result! You’re hopefully out celebrating still!
Where did you watch the game? Hope you’ve got some fellow Colombians to watch it with.