Fantasy Picks

As with all good sporting events, there are usually the fantasy games to keep fans interested. Below will be my picks for the fantasy team and bracket prediction. Some of you may scratch your heads at some of the picks, and I will not explain my full reasoning (yet!) as to why. To find out, you would have to keep reading for my group breakdowns. Both of these picks are from ESPN soccernet, to make your own, head over there and create an account to get started.


Fantasy team:

One interesting thing is that you can only select a starting team and captain for each gameweek. With that in mind I tried to purchase the best players possible for a single starting lineup, and filled up the rest of my 15 man roster with picks that were cheaper (and I will not play, mostly because they are substitutes). With that in mind:

Goalkeeper:

Hugo Lloris of France: Of the top teams, he was one of the cheapest money wise. This is easy to realize as he is not as well known; however, since I expect France to win their group he could easily wrack up some points from clean-sheets, and saves. A bargain in my opinion.

Defenders:

Ashley Cole of England, Sergio Ramos of Spain, Philipp Lahm of Germany: Since scoring and assists are the way to earn points I went with attacking defenders in mind. These three guys routinely race up the field on the flanks and are involved in set pieces. If they perform as well as they do for their clubs then one could expect a lot of points from these three players. Not to mention they have a good defense next to them, so you could expect very few goals against.

Midfielders:

Wesley Sneijder of Netherlands: One of the stars of the Champions league, and a member of the “big four” for the Netherlands, you can expect him to get a few goals and provide numerous assists. Some people think he may not be a starter, but Bert van Marwijk would be crazy to not include him in the lineup.

Andres Guardado of Mexico: Playing in Spain with Deportivo has given this youngster some serious street cred. Not fully devloped on the international scene will make some people overlook him. However, he does score goals and provides even more assists from the side of the pitch.

Steven Pienaar of South Africa: The star of the home country with some flare and speed, the Everton player will be carrying the hopes and dreams of the green and yellow.

Hassan Yebda of Algeria: I’m not going to lie, I needed another starter, and one that was cheap. But Yebda is a great pick for that. The Desert Foxes are viewing him as an up-and-coming prodigy for the country, and he could deliver, having been developed in France through a successful youth program.

Strikers:

Lionel Messi of Argentina, David Villa of Spain, and Theofanis Gekas of Greece.

Goals, Goals, and more Goals. That is what these three players will provide. Quick and dangerous, two of them are easily the best strikers in the world, while one is the best striker for his country. This is where the majority of my points went, and I could not be happier.

To see my bracket prediction: head over to Fantasy Picks part 2.