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World Cup Fantasy Football Tips, Group Stage 2: Defenders

Fancy Iran to score against Argentina? We certainly don't.

Daley Blind, one of our World Cup Fantasy Football tips for Group Stage 2
Blind… Had a, er, good game (Image: Amarhgil)

Our World Cup Fantasy Football tips for the Group Stage were based on the official Fifa version of the game, which doesn’t allow for any more transfers until the knock-out stages.

However, other versions of the game – including The Mirror’s World Cup Fantasy Football game, our favourite on account of its similarity to Fantasy Premier League – allow for transfers in between the three rounds of Group Stage matches.

As such we bring you our World Cup Fantasy Football Tips for Group Stage 2 defenders (and goalkeepers), for those of you out there who are playing one of the more transfer-friendly versions…

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Anyway, on with the Group Stage 2 defenders (and goalkeepers) advice…

World Cup Fantasy Football Tips, Group Stage 2: Defenders (and goalkeepers)

Some versions of the game include Brazil v Mexico in Round 1, even though it’s each team’s second match. This means that neither feature in what is essentially ‘Gameweek 2′, so get your Brazilians and Mexicans out of there!

You have to fancy Argentina for a clean sheet against Iran, but then you might also fancy them to score a few goals as well.

With this in mind it might make sense to save your transfers for Argentina’s attacking players, although if you’re looking for defensive reinforcement then Marcos Rojo – claimer of an assist in the 3-1 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina – looks good value (£4.5m in the Mirror game).

Holland/the Netherlands’ Daley Blind costs just £4m in the Mirror game – if he performs as impressively and excitingly against Australia as he performed in the 5-1 win over Spain then you could be onto a good thing there.

Other than that, it’s a case of who else you fancy to keep clean sheets – looking at the fixtures for the second round of group stage games, we’d back Germany and Ecuador for shut-outs in their games against Ghana and Honduras respectively.

German goalkeepers and defenders won’t come as cheap as their Ecuadorian counterparts but they will presumably have more staying power in the tournament, and therefore represent better ‘long term’ options.

Cue Ecuador going on a mad run to the final.

Oh and Mats Hummels, scorer of Germany’s second goal against Portugal before withdrawing through injury, should be fit enough to face Ghana. Apparently.

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