Trying to call a World Cup winner is tremendously difficult, but this combination of players from teams still left in the tournament will take some stopping.
Only the most negative of football fans would suggest that the World Cup has been anything but absolutely brilliant so far and after a helter-skelter opening couple of weeks where football fans had only one rest day to catch their breaths, we didn’t know what to do with ourselves when we were hit with two consecutive days off from the action earlier this week.
Here in JOE Towers, we used the downtime to reflect on what has been a fantastic tournament so far and decided to put our heads together to come up with what we think has been the team of the tournament from all of the teams left in the competition.
To do so, we headed on over to new Fantasy Football website PlayON, where football fans can put their Fantasy Football expertise to good use and try and win a few quid while they’re at it. Today, for example, there’s a £2,500 pot on offer so it’s well worth your while dropping by. To find out more about PlayON, check out our interview with founder Killian Jones here.
Of course, it would be too easy to just pick all of the best players from the tournament so far in their respective positions, so we did what we could with the £100 million budget at PlayON. Despite having to exclude Lionel Messi (the tough calls have to be made) we’ve still managed to fit some of the tournament’s superstars into a selection that we think would beat any of the teams left in the competition.
Messi reacts to being left out of our team of the last eight
Check our selection (it gets better as it goes on, trust us) and the reasons why we picked them below and if you think you can do better, head on over to PlayON and have a stab at if yourself. PlayON have put 100x £1 one-on-one games up, so the first 100 people can take JOE’s team on for £1 each here.
Best of luck!
JOE’s Fantasy Football Team of the World Cup last eight
Keylor Navas (Costa Rica): The Costa Rican netminder is supposedly being targeted by Liverpool and Arsenal on the basis of his performances at the tournament so far and with good reason too. He’s only conceded two goals in open play to date and he was responsible for one of the saves of the tournament when keeping out the penalty of Greece’s Theofanis Gekas during the last 16 shoot-out.
Toby Alderweireld (Belgium): An understated presence in a Belgian back four that has conceded only two goals so far, you could set your watch by Alderweireld at right back. Just don’t ask us to pronounce his surname.
Ron Vlaar (Holland): Beloved by Aston Villa fans, Vlaar has been solid at the heart of the Dutch defence and we’re not ruling out a goal from a set-piece yet.
Pablo Armero (Colombia): Scorer of Colombia’s first goal at the World Cup, he’s been part of a defence that has been breached only twice in four games. Hard to believe he used to play for West Ham, eh?
Johnny Acosta (Costa Rica): Has been only a bit-part player for Los Ticos so far, but is likely to start against Holland due to the likely absence of Roy Miller in defence.
Axel Witsel (Belgium): Not as hairy as Marouane Fellaini but far more talented, Witsel is constantly seeking to deliver probing passes to the likes of Hazard, De Bruyne, Lukaku and Origi in the Belgian attack.
Yohan Cabaye (France): Arguably doesn’t stand out as much as his midfield colleagues Pogba and Matuidi, but he’s been quietly effective for Les Bleus and as we know from his days at Newcastle, he’s well able to chip in with a goal when he gets a chance.
Arjen Robben (Holland): He gave an indication in the 5-1 demolition of Spain that he was in the mood to cause havoc in Brazil and he hasn’t let up since. No opposition defence has been able to cope with his pace and trickery (and tendency to go down in the box) and he’s a good bet to add to the four goals he’s scored to date.
James Rodriguez (Colombia): We knew he was good, but we didn’t know the Monaco man was just as good as he has been showing in Brazil so far. With five goals he’s the leading scorer so far, he’s probably bagged the goal of the tournament already and he’s been involved in everything good that Colombia have done to date. A bona-fide superstar.
Neymar (Brazil): The Barcelona striker is under more pressure than any player in the tournament and he’s coped amazingly well so far. Brazil’s go-to man in attack, only James Rodriguez has scored more than the four goals Neymar has contributed to date.
Thomas Muller (Germany): Winner of the Golden Boot at the last World Cup, Muller is going all out to win it for the second time in a row and with four goals so far, you wouldn’t bet against him doing just that.
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