World Cup 2014 Fixtures Schedule
Following on from our World Cup group by group analysis we are delighted to present to you our fixture tracker for the group stages. Many thanks to Andy who kindly volunteered to provide us with this along with his take on how it will all pan out in the usual colour coded fashion, complete with a current form guide which will give you an idea of how each team is shaping up in preparation for the big day. Hopefully this will be of some help to you all as you plan your fantasy teams and their progression through the group stages. We shall endeavour to update this as the competition progresses to the knock out stages to keep you as well informed as possible.
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Form Guide Key
W – Wins
D – Draws
L – Losses
F- Goals For
A- Goals Against
CS- Clean sheets attained in last 10 games
Rather than taking results from the last 6 games as per the norm I’ve stretched it out to include the last 10 games to try and include as much competitive football as possible as persistent freindly games are sometimes not the best stats to gather information from, I think only the Koreans have not had a competitive game in their last 10 games. The quality of opposition also varies greatly across the board.
NB All stats are up to date to the 23/05/14, all teams still have either 2 or 3 friendlies left to play until the competition kicks off.
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Color Code Key
Purple – Not only do I think this team has a high chance of winning the game I also believe it may be possible for them to win by a fairly big margin.
Green – All green team games should be considered as favorites for this tie.
Yellow – All yellow team games should be considered, as it could possibly go either way.
Red – All red team games could see that team struggling in that corresponding fixture.
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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 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 the site itself.
England 3-0 Peru
Sturridge goal
Cahill goal Baines assist
Jagielka goal Cahill assist (corner by Baines)
Not very impressed by England. Their play often stagnated and they struggled to break down a defensive Peru. Reckon they’ll do better against Uruguay than Italy, if the Uruguayans play more attacking. The first goal was directly after a throw-in, and the other came on a corner. So really no goals from open play. Don’t think Sturridge should be lone-forward, he should have less responsibility and more freedom, allowing him to do his own thing and score wonder goals like he did today. Welbeck and Lallana (side attacking midfielders) often went in centrally, allowing Baines and Johnson to come on overlaps.
Baines took free-kicks from the left and corners from both sides. After this match I’d only really suggest Baines and Cahill, Baines has a potential for assist due to set pieces and will get points from both recoveries and crossing. Cahill is as always a serious threat on set pieces. Sturridge always has a potential for goals as well, but I think England are more of a threat on set pieces than from open play.
Sorry mate, England can’t buy the entire planet to play for them like your team (Man City). :big-lol:
Cheers Tekno,
Sounds like the usual old rubbish then!!
Agreed. I thought it was an average performance at best, if they set up, and perform like that in the World Cup they’ll struggle to qualify from the group which is a crazy thought considering the talent they have this time round. Hodgson needs to get the finger out set them up to suit their strengths. Rooney was abysmal.
By the way, I support England when Holland is out. Even support them when Holland is not out.
However, you coach is a freaking idiot. He made them play with extra trousers on, a sweater, to mimic the South American warmth? I mean seriously? If you prepare like that you might as well go to the red light district in Amsterdam, at least than you’ll be entertained.
Suggest anywhere in particular Raz?
I think we’ve all been there Raz. Can’t remember having EXTRA clothes on though 😉
I actually was in Amsterdam with a couple of friends some while back. We sadly forgot to visit any red-light district, and the van Gogh museum was closed so those two things were a disappointment.
It was when there was talks that tourists shouldn’t be able to buy weed, so of course the only sensible thing to do was to get to Amsterdam as quickly as possible. Still remember when I was sitting in the coffee shop with my friends; one of them had never smoked before (at all) so he puked after about five minutes which of course got us be kicked out, and on the way out another of my friends tripped in the doorsill, fell head first into the concrete, passed out and broke his nose. Me? I’d forgotten my ID at the hotel, so I just had to sit there and watch my friends get high/fuck shit up. (We were 18-19 then, so quite inexperienced)
Next day though, we bought some pot brownies, and I of course got a little excited so I ate a lot. This made me develop superpowers that allowed me to shoot force waves from my hands. I also got an orgasm from listening to music.
Day after we got magical mushrooms. I saw walls breathe, rainbows around lightsources, and a green wall turn into a jungle. in addition I started worshipping a tree.
Needless to say, me and my friends are going back to Amsterdam someday.
Tekno – I’ve never been, which is crazy. I may have to go and visit Razman
I think England will improve when Wilshere and Sterling are given starts. Wilshere looked decent when he came on, but its hard to see Wilshere replacing Henderson if the manager is convinced with Liverpool attack/psychology in the front.
Sterling is a no brainer i think, in place of Welbeck, out wide. Should prove good for Sturridge as well.
Spain 2-0 Bolivia
Spain (4-3-3)
23 José Manuel Reina
5 César Azpilicueta
3 Gerard Piqué
4 Javi Martínez
14 Alberto Moreno
8 Xavi
15 Ander Iturraspe
20 Santi Cazorla
13 Juan Mata
9 Fernando Torres
11 Pedro
Torres goal (pen)
Iniesta goal
(Only saw 2nd half)
Spain were actually entertaining to watch. They played with short passes of course, but more direct and with a higher tempo than I expected. many though passes that gave Torres many chances. Had they played a striker that wasn’t complete shit they would have gotten more goals. I’m serious, I’m usually more tolerant of people who are commonly disliked but Torres is 120% shit. He tried a chip, and ended up shooting the ball 10 meters above the goal.
If Spain play like this in the WC, their chosen striker (unless that striker is Mr. Shit) can be a serious fantasy asset. Iniesta also was dangerous with his passing, he’s probably most likely to get assists.He scored a long-shot goal as well. Got a much more positive view of Spain’s attacking players after this game. Can absolutely see them wreck weaker teams to shreds. Iniesta + Costa on my radar. Can’t really say much about their defense as Spain dominated possession.
Jeez have i scared everyone off again lol
Fox Sports has also launched WC Fantasy. Very similar to FPL.
Morning chaps…
So England ehh….looked very pedestrian against a Peru side that’s not won a game in 12 months..
Anyway….on the positive side, it was refreshing to see youth given a chance, and what a goal from Sturridge..!
On the negative side Rooney was shocking, can anyone tell me why he’s so crucial to England…?
IMO he needs to start on the bench… He’s lost that fire in his belly & needs reminding that he’s not indispensable… Roy needs to grow some cojoñes… If he’s not performing for Man U…
I’m sure van Gaal will drop him in a heartbeat…!
My starting 11 v Italy…
.Hart
Johnson – Cahill – jags – Baines
.Gerrard – Henderson
Sterling – welbeck – Lallana
. Sturridge
Subs.
Barkley > Henderson / Lallana / Sterling
Lampard > Henderson / Lallana
Rooney > Welbeck / Sturridge
Shaw > Baines / Johnson
Wiltshire / Gerrard / Henderson
Ox > Lallana / Sterling
Milner > to anyone.
Lambert..if it goes to penalty shoot out bring him on.
Plz RMT team…lol
Popz I am not sure how that side would do against a direct team like Uruguay. I am not very confident about G.J., Gerrard, Cahill, and Jags with their speed trying to keep Cavani & Suarez in front of them. If they were playing Ecuador or Colombia that would not be as big of a factor. Heck even Brazil is more like Ecuador & Colombia than Uruguay. Uruguay is the most direct South American team in the World Cup. Uruguay doesn’t mind playing ugly and will try to flood the left or go over the top. That is why Peru was just a friendly with no real benefits in terms of getting ready for Uruguay. If they wanted a similar playing style to Uruguay they should have scheduled Paraguay. There are teams who play similar in South America some doing much better than others obviously.
Brazil
Colombia
Peru
Venezuela
Ecuador all try to keep the ball and usually play you straight up when they have their full team. They leave space to be attacked in exchange for space to attack you.
Chile
Argentina are the fastest South American teams and tend to press you so they can recover the ball quickly. They are best played on the counter if you have speed up top. They send numbers forward but leave themselves vulnerable when they lose the ball. Both can be a bit unbalanced in the way they go forward, exposing themselves in the back.
Uruguay
Paraguay are rough teams that play a bit over the top, they don’t have the build up style of the first five teams and want to make it a grind to move the ball against them. They are happy on set pieces. Their problem has been that their defenders are not as good as they once were so when they give up a goal they send numbers forward to equalize and their shape falls apart. I expect Uruguay to let England have the ball and encourage the English to come forward. But when they recover the ball expect Cavani and Suarez to be played the ball quickly and hope to catch them with less numbers defending.
Bolivia is the last team and they play like no one. They are absolute shite and if it wasn’t for the huge advantage they have when they play at home because of the altitude they would barely ever win a game. Away they defend with all 11 at home they attack with all 11 and shoot from anywhere.
Mito, you forgot to mention Costa Rica. 😉
(Special nod to Init for that.)
I think Wilshere should start in place of Henderson, but im not sure if Roy wants to interrupt the Gerrarad-Hendo love story. But anyway, WIlshere is a better midfielder and should sort things out in the middle when needed.
Also, would always prefer Rooney over Welbeck.
Uruguay still only managed to beat Northern Ireland 1 – 0 in Montevideo so I’m still more than a little confident we’ll qualify from our group, I’d also fancy our chances against anyone from Group C. Far too late to start being pessimistic, optimism is the future Mon England.
So basically, what we’re saying is that England won’t get out of the group and will be flying home early?!!
Makes a change from the usual “got a good feeling about this year”
Just don’t send numbers to attack them that leave your defence with their two guys running at only 2 or 3 of your guys. I can see a nightmare scenario where Suarez and Cavani are running at Jagielka, Cahill and Gerrard. Uruguay is the weakest South American team ( maybe Ecuador, but the heat helps Ecuador and hurts Uruguay )and if you give them no advantages In the back they can be beaten. If England can be patient in the build up there is enough of stupidity in the Uruguay defence to let the English score a goal or two. Teams get in trouble because they send too many players forward against them trying to break them down. Just be patient England, I will let you in on a little secret Uruguay is absolute shite disguised by a couple of shiny parts.
It’s the “couple of shiny parts” team vs the “can’t polish a turd” team. Could get messy.
According to Opta, Glen Johnson’s first touch covered, on average, 6 yards. (*unofficial)
Glen the Johnson is one reason I am so pessimistically realistic about England’s chances.