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World Cup Fantasy Weekly Update 2

Hello and welcome to the World Cup knockout rounds! Unfortunately I was not on my game yesterday to get this out before the South Africa vs Canada game(congrats to all the Canadians out there btw!), but I'm writing this now and that's what counts.

Anyway, the knockout rounds have been set following the gameweek 3 drama that ended with a Messi free kick for his 6th goal of the tournament and started with South Africa pulling off a 1-0 victory against South Korea and sparking a… governmental investigation?

Let's check out how the groups ended!

Group A

  1. Mexico (Q) - 9 pts
  2. South Africa (Q) - 4 pt
  3. South Korea (E) - 3 pts
  4. Czechia (E) - 1 pt

A huge win for South Africa over South Korea as somehow Heung-Min Son suffers yet another disappointment as his team played just some awful games against Mexico and South Africa to go home. Anyway, Mexico didn't get scored on the entire group stage. Curious if the home field advantage(s) played a factor.

Group B

  1. Switzerland (Q) - 7 pts
  2. Canada (Q) - 4 pts
  3. Bosnia and Herzegovina (Q) - 4 pt
  4. Qatar (E) - 1 pt

Not much to say here as Switzerland defeated Canada in the head to head to top the group, while Bosnia and Herzegovina routed Qatar (surprise surprise) to send them packing on -8 goal difference.

Group C

  1. Brazil (Q) - 7 pts
  2. Morocco (Q) - 7 pts
  3. Scotland (E) - 3 pts
  4. Haiti (E) - 0 pts

A couple of haters in Group C knocked out Scotland and Haiti as the latter showed some spirit and scored a worldie against Morocco and led for a period of time, despite being eliminated. More heart than Scotland who showed why they're basically the worst 3rd place team.

Group D

  1. United States (Q) - 6 pts
  2. Australia (Q) - 4 pts
  3. Paraguay (Q) - 4 pts
  4. Turkiye (E) - 3 pts

I didn't get the chance to watch but I've heard that those who decided to watch the meaningful match between Australia and Paraguay got to see pristine defensive soccer while those watching the boring unimportant match between the US and Turkiye was forced to watch a boring, drama filled 3-2 match. And who would want to see that over a 0-0 draw where both teams totalled 0.79 xG?

Group E

  1. Germany (Q) - 6 pts
  2. Ivory Coast (Q) - 6 pts
  3. Ecuador (Q) - 4 pt
  4. Curacao (E) - 1 pt

A huge win for Ecuador over a beached Germany team put them ahead of about 75% of the other 3rd place teams, while Arsenal legend Nicolas Pepe puts a dagger in the hearts of underdog fans everywhere by scoring 2 against Curacao. RIP Curacao.

Group F

  1. Netherlands (Q) - 7 pts
  2. Japan (Q) - 5 pts
  3. Sweden (Q) - 4 pts
  4. Tunisia (E) - 0 pts

While Sweden couldn't quite defeat Japan to go 2nd in the group, a 1-1 draw from a great Elanga goal was enough to see them through in 3rd. All the while Tunisia let down all of CAF by being the only African team to not qualify for the knockout rounds. What a wild stat.

Group G

  1. Belgium (Q) - 5 pts
  2. Egypt (Q) - 5 pts
  3. Iran (E) - 3 pts
  4. New Zealand (E) - 1 pt

Kevin de Bruyne rolled back the years as New Zealand just kinda.. rolled over as the Belgians ended their goalless streak with a 5-1 victory to send Chris Wood back to Nottingham Forest training. Two goals from Trossard as well. Meanwhile, Egypt secured their spot in 2nd and Iran's impressive unbeaten elimination with a 1-1 draw.

Group H

  1. Spain (Q) - 7 pts
  2. Cape Verde (Q) - 3 pts
  3. Uruguay (E) - 2 pts
  4. Saudi Arabia (E) - 2 pt

Quite the dramatic group ending as Spain defeated Uruguay 1-0, Uruguay did their classic Uruguay thing of being general unlikeable and also huge assholes by injuring Nico Williams, starting a fight, and I think Canobbio squared up against the ref? I didn't watch the game but hey, at least they didn't jump into the stands and start fighting fans. No team would ever do something like that. Anyway, congrats to Cape Verde for making the knockout rounds! What a huge accomplishment.

Group I

  1. France (Q) - 9 pts
  2. Norway (Q) - 6 pts
  3. Senegal (Q) - 3 pts
  4. Iraq (E) - 0 pts

In what I thought could be an interesting battle for 1st in this group, Norway trotted out the B team and Dembele scored a hat trick in 32 minutes.Meanwhile, Iraq decided a red card in the 13th minute could be nice and then Senegal won 5-0 to be the only 3rd placed team to qualify on 3 points.

Group J

  1. Argentina (Q) - 9 pts
  2. Austria (Q) - 4 pts
  3. Algeria (Q) - 4 pts
  4. Jordan (E) - 0 pts

Argentina played a meaningless match against Jordan in which Messi did not start, but did score. Because why not hit 6 goals in 3 games to start the tournament. In the other match, Austria and Algeria decided that the Australia vs Paraguay arrangement was not for them and ended the game 3-3 so that they both qualified. And yeah, that's with a 93rd minute goal from Mahrez and a 96th minute goal from Wolves legend Sasa Kalajdzic. Can someone ask Rangnick about match fixing again, I don't think I believe him.

Group K

  1. Colombia (Q) - 7 pts
  2. Portugal (Q) - 5 pts
  3. DR Congo (Q) - 4 pt
  4. Uzbekistan (E) - 0 pts

Not really sure what happened between Colombia and Portugal but I've heard James Rodriguez has more chances created in this tournament than like half of the Portugal players combined so if a 34 year old playing in Minnesota can do it wtf is wrong with Roberto Martinez. Oh wait, he was the Belgium coach in recent years so this checks out. Anyway, DR Congo did what Newcastle couldn't and somehow unlocked Wissa, who scored 2 against Uzbekistan to lead them to the Round of 32.

Group L

  1. England (Q) - 7 pts
  2. Croatia (Q) - 6 pts
  3. Ghana (Q) - 4 pts
  4. Panama (E) - 0 pts

I heard whispers of "it's coming home" as Bellingham anteatered in front of thousands of surprisingly British looking Americans in "New York New Jersey Stadium" after scoring from a Bukayo Saka corner. Because that's how soccer is meant to be played. In the other Group L match however, 40 year old Luka Modric somehow put together a heatmap that was just a red rectangle the size of the pitch to save them from Senegal's immense GD.

Round of 32

And looking ahead to the Round of 32:

Top Half:

  • Germany vs Paraguay
  • France vs Sweden


  • South Africa 0-1 Canada
  • Netherlands vs Morocco
  • Portugal vs Croatia
  • Spain vs Austria


  • USA vs Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Belgium vs Senegal

Bottom Half:

  • Brazil vs Japan
  • Ivory Coast vs Norway


  • Mexico vs Ecuador
  • England vs DR Congo
  • Argentina vs Cape Verde
  • Australia vs Egypt


  • Switzerland vs Algeria
  • Colombia vs Ghana

And real quick just wanted to highlight some fun looking matches:

  • France vs Sweden - I don't think Sweden can do it but it's a fun time to see two European teams full of big names go up against one another (e.g. Gudmundsson). Plus, the winner plays the winner of Germany vs Paraguay, so that'll be interesting.
  • Portugal vs Croatia - Portugal has looked rough, but also Croatia is running on 40 year old Luka Modric and hope
  • Belgium vs Senegal - Similarly, Belgium has not looked the best, but also both of these teams scored 5 in their last game so this is probably a 0-0 snoozefest where Senegal wins on penalties (and then in 2 months the win is actually given to Belgium)
  • Ivory Coast vs Norway - Who wouldn't want to watch the best scorer in the world go up against a team led by Erling Haaland? Nicolas Pepe golden boot here we go
  • Argentina vs Cape Verde - Cape Verde World Cup win incoming after defeating the defending champs in the Round of 32, you heard it here first.
  • Australia vs Egypt - All I'm saying is Australia will be looking to avenge New Zealand. Or maybe they're glad New Zealand lost to Egypt? I'm not really sure how they feel about one another @chris could you give some input here

World Cup Fantasy

Position Manager Points R1 R2 R3
1 (+3) Luke 280 106 70 104
2 (-1) Chris 271 107 97 67
3 (-) Darryan 267 85 101 81
4 (-2) Zach 242 90 102 50
5 (-) Jesse 239 67 101 71
6 (-) Matthew 233 85 76 72
7 (+1) John 213 81 64 68
8 (+1) Coop 211 78 66 67
9 (-2) Mack 210 91 67 52
10 (-) Kevin 184 66 75 43
11 (-) Scott 124 44 46 34


A huge week for Luke as his wildcard paid off with a huge 104 point week where his biggest disappointment was a 3 pointer from Lamine Yamal. He now takes the top spot over Chris by 9 points, whose wildcard went the opposite direction as he put up the tied-6th highest score this week (67). Darryan uses a quadruple 7 pointer to put up 81 to close the gap with Chris to just 4 points heading into the knockout rounds while also separating from Zach in 4th by 25 points. He sits now just 3 ahead of Jesse and 9 ahead of me. John moves to 7th and now leads the trio of him/Coop/Mack who are on 213/211/210 points to 20 back of me. Kevin sits another 25 points back and Scott another 60.