World Cup Fantasy Team: Players to bring in for Round 2

The first round is coming to an end and while the tournament started off with a bang but the matches thereafter were exciting close encounters but alas from a fantasy point of view spelt disaster.

Many fantasy managers invested their money in big-name players like Messi, Neymar, Suarez, who failed miserably and failed to justify their position in fantasy squads. This strategy of acquiring big-name players affected the majority of the fantasy squads, as the players' inability to deliver in Round 1 has resulted in many of these teams languishing at the bottom of their league table.

But fantasy managers can still make up for their mistakes in Round 1, as fantasy teams are allowed one free transfer per round, which for Round 2 has to be done before the Russia vs Egypt encounter.

Even though some big-name players failed to deliver as per expectations, there were some players who performed well for their national teams in round one and have favourable matchups coming up in the remaining group stage matches.

Hence to make sure that fantasy managers perform well in the upcoming round 2 of the fantasy FIFA World Cup, here are 4 players, fantasy managers can transfer in before the start of round 2:

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#4 Guillermo Ochoa (Goalkeeper, Mexico, €5.0)

It seems as if Ochoa loves the pressure of playing against the top contenders in a World Cup. in 2014, he put in a superman-esque performance against the Brazilians in their very own backyard to earn Mexico a draw.

4 years later he is back again this time bringing the Germans to their knees making 9 saves in Mexico's shock 1-0 victory over the reigning world champions.

Mexico's next group match is against South Korea, who failed to register a shot on target in their first match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup against Sweden and should not pose much of a threat to El Tri's shot-stopper who has shown his ability to collect save points along with clean sheet points. Their final group stage game against Sweden should also not pose a major threat as far as attack is considered. Ochoa is owned in just 4.4% fantasy teams.

#3 Jose Maria Gimenez (Defender, Uruguay, €5.5)

Jose Maria Jimenez(in White)

Giminez turned out to be the unlikeliest of scorers in a squad boasting the likes of Luis Suarez and Edison Cavani but the Atletico Madrid defender rose to the task when his team needed a goal the most.

Giminez is owned by just 7.7% players compared to his club and country teammate Diego Godin's 23.7%. He also kept a clean sheet apart from scoring the last-minute winner.

Uruguay play Saudi Arabia and Russia in their next 2 group stage matches, they are the lowest ranked teams in the competition.

#2 Carlos Salcedo (Defender, Mexico, €5.0)

Carlos Salcedo

Owned by just 0.7% teams, the Mexican defender made sure the teams picking the German midfielders and forwards regretted their decision to ignore him when they were constructing their roster.

Salcedo scored 6 points in round 1, courtesy of a clean sheet which he managed by keeping the likes of Real Madrid's Toni Kroos, Bayern Munich's Thomas Mueller and RB Leipzig's Timo Werner quiet for a period of 90 minutes.

In the next 2 matches, the Eintracht Frankfurt defender faces Sweden and South Korea who are counted as minnows in this edition of the World Cup and should be an easy way to get clean sheet points for Salcedo.

#1 Diego Costa (Forward, Spain, €10.0)

Diego Costa

While the world was drooling over Cristiano Ronaldo's performance against Spain, they seem to neglect the great shift that Diego Costa put in for La Roja as he scored 2 vital goals keeping Spain in the game till the very end.

Spain has passed its biggest test in the group stage by drawing with Portugal and now faces Iran and Morocco in its next 2 group stage encounters.

With a new coach at the helm at the very start of the tournament, changes in the squad won't be done so early in the competition and we can expect Diego Costa to lead Spain's attack for now.