With the final four of the World Cup now firmly established, and as some valiant squads are forced to watch the remainder of the tournament from their hotel rooms or back home after some heartbreaking eliminations, despite keeping their heads held high, the 2014 world champions will be either South Americans Brazil or Argentina, or Europeans Germany or Netherlands.
These four sides will do battle with the home nation welcoming the Germany and Argentina taking on Netherlands in the semis, so let’s take a step back for a while and take a look at some of the heroes of the knockout stages so far – including both faces that will feature in the final four and those who have suffered their exits already.
Colombia’s James Rodriguez has proven one of the stars of the tournament, showing the global audience just why French outfit Monaco splashed out almost €45.00m on him with some stunning displays, and a return of 155 points – the most of anyone in the tournament thus far, despite the comparatively modest €9.00m asking price for our fantasy managers. He returned a massive 50 points from one single game in the last 16 game against Uruguay, and got 15 for himself during his side’s exit at the hands of host nation and semi-finalists Brazil.
Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas has been the top points earner thus far in the tournament, and despite a struggled display in the round of 16 against Greece – he lost himself five points – he did very well during their exit at the hands of the Netherlands, earning 40 points and keeping an impressive clean sheet before exiting the proceedings on penalties. At just a €7.00m value, any of our fantasy managers with the good sense to select the 27-year-old will have had a pleasantly surprising source of points flowing in.
Germany defender Mats Hummels has been another fine performer – he has only featured in one of the knockout games thus far during his nation’s win over European rivals France – but he managed to accrue 50 points in that game alone – and again, his value of €7.50m could bring a tear to the eye of any emotional fantasy managers we have in the ranks – that’s a wonderful return. His goal did admittedly help that tally rather hugely, but 50 points are 50 points – it could be the difference between winning and finishing as runner up in the competition!
Another top performer from the knockouts is former Liverpool star Javier Mascherano, who has snagged 60 points from 220 minutes of action since the group stages finished. A gruelling 125 minutes of action saw the Argentines dispose of European outfit Switzerland, and a further 95 minute turnout against hopefuls Belgium followed – each outing yielded a 30 point return. €7.5M indicates yet another lovely return from a relatively low outlay – especially considering the valuation of his club and international team-mate Lionel Messi at €21.0M!
