With the Premier League and Champions League finished for the season it is now time to look to the World Cup, and particular the fantasy football options in the biggest football competition in the world.
This article will be looking at Group C and the potential these players have to perform well in Russia. Group C consists of France, Australia, Denmark and Peru. The winner of this group looks to be obvious, but it will seemingly be scrap for second place. The 1998 World Cup winners France will surely ease the group under Didier Deschamps but who knows, anything can happen in football.
Now let’s get into the players that may be getting in to your Fantasy World Cup squads…
France
France finished runners up in their latest major tournament in Euro 2016 and look to have a great young vibrant squad. Arguably the most exciting youngster in the squad is PSG forward Kylian Mbappe who is just 19 years old. His scoring record for the French side was 13 goals in 27 Ligue 1 appearances and already has 3 goals for his country. Arsène Wenger has likened him with Thierry Henry and you can see why with his stats. He won the European u19 Championship back in 2016, grabbing a place in the team of the tournament in the process.
His striker partner Antoine Griezmann has been hotly tipped to grab the golden boot in the World Cup, mainly due to his fantastic scoring records wherever he is playing his football. He has 79 goals in just 142 games for his current club Athletico Madrid and has 20 goals for his country in 53 games. 6 of these international goals came in Euro 2016 including a brace against current World Cup holders, Germany. Griezmann has already won a big tournament this year, winning the Europa League so he will be used to lifting a trophy!
The final France player to consider is is Manchester City full back Benjamin Mendy. Despite not playing as much as he would like last season, he looked very dangerous in the time he was on the pitch. He was at AS Monaco with Mbappe where he won the Ligue 1 title in the only season at the club. In that campaign he provided 11 assists for his team mates and grabbed the single goal for himself in the Coupe de France.
23-man squad: Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda, Alphonse Areola, Djibril Sidibe, Benjamin Pavard, Adil Rami, Raphael Varane, Samuel Umtiti, Presnel Kimpembe, Benjamin Mendy, Lucas Hernandez, Paul Pogba, Blaise Matuidi, Corentin Tolisso, N’Golo Kante, Steven Nzonzi, Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele, Florian Thauvin, Thomas Lemar, Nabil Fekir.
Australia
Australia may seemingly be a useless team in terms of Fantasy World Cup Potential, but they did win the last edition of the Asia Cup back in 2015 so they may be able to cause some kind of shock. Their star man will more than likely be Huddersfield midfielder Aaron Mooy who will look to light up the World Cup as he and Huddersfield did last season. Mooy has played 33 times for his country since his debut in 2012, scoring 5 goals in the 6 years. He will be key to Australia and their hopes of reaching the knockout stage and he could be a good cheap option.
Another Aussie in the Premier League who could provide good value for money is Brighton shot stopper Matt Ryan. Ryan found himself in many FPL squads last season due to the sheer amount of saves he’d get and evidently points fantasy points. It could be the same story at the World Cup as Australia will be one of the weaker teams, arguably like Brighton and therefore Ryan will be a busy man between the sticks.
23-man squad: Mat Ryan, Danny Vukovic, Brad Jones, Trent Sainsbury, Milos Degenek, Matt Jurman, Mark Milligan, Josh Risdon, Aziz Behich, James Meredith, Mile Jedinak, Aaron Mooy, Massimo Luongo, Jackson Irvine, Tomi Rogic, Dimitri Petratos, Mathew Leckie, Daniel Arzani, Tim Cahill, Tomi Juric, Andrew Nabbout, Jamie Maclaren, Robbie Kruse.
Denmark
Denmark’s best finish in a World Cup was back in 1998 where they reached the Quarter Finals and with their current squad they could equal that. They unexpectedly won the Euro’s back in 1992 so why can’t they cause a shock this time around? Christian Eriksen will certainly be the main Dane. The Spurs playmaker scored a hattrick in their victory over Republic Of Ireland to qualify for the tournament and will definitely be their star man during the tournament.
Pione Sisto will be on the wing for Denmark and is looking like a great youngster. He plays for Celta Vigo in the La Liga and has 7 goals in 63 games. At his boyhood club FC Midtjylland, he scored 20 in 90 which ultimately earned his move to Celta Vigo. The 23 year old has made 12 appearances in a Danish shirt scoring once, which came against Panama earlier this year.
23-man squad: Kasper Schmeichel, Jonas Lossl, Frederik Ronow, Andreas Christensen, Simon Kjaer, Mathias Jorgensen, Jannik Vestergaard, Henrik Dalsgaard, Jens Stryger, Jonas Knudsen, Christian Eriksen, Lasse Schone, Lukas Lerager, Michael Krohn-Dehli, William Kvist, Thomas Delaney, Andreas Cornelius, Kasper Dolberg, Martin Braithwaite, Nicolai Jorgensen, Pione Sisto, Viktor Fischer, Yussuf Poulsen
Peru
Peru are certainly an unknown outfit. Their last appearance was all the way back in 1982 and their best previous finish was further back in 1970, reaching the quarters, so who is in their current squad that could find a place in your Fantasy World Cup Squad?
Paolo Guerrero is the closest to showing potential for the World Cup. Guerrero is a legend in Peru scoring 34 international goals in 87 games. The 34 year old has played his club football in Brazil since 2012 scoring 42 goals in 119 games for Corinthians and Flamengo. Another player who could cause problems is Jefferson Farfan. Farfan plays his football in Russia so will be used to conditions. He scored 11 in 25 for Lokomotiv Moscow and has 25 international goals on top of that proving he could be a threat.
23-man squad: Carlos Caceda, Jose Carvallo, Pedro Gallese, Luis Abram, Luis Advincula, Pedro Aquino, Miguel Araujo, Andre Carrillo, Wilder Cartagena, Aldo Corzo, Christian Cueva, Jefferson Farfan, Edison Flores, Paolo Hurtado, Nilson Loyola, Sergio Pena, Andy Polo, Christian Ramos, Alberto Rodriguez, Raul Ruidiaz, Anderson Santamaria, Renato Tapia, Miguel Trauco, Yoshimar Yotun, Paolo Guerrero.
Conclusion
I believe that France will ease the group securing 3 wins in the process. The second place finish will likely go to Denmark, with a decent Australia side in third, then Peru bringing up the back with a point at best.
Written by, Harry Clark (@HarryClark67)
