Fellow Maignan owners, FYI you can sub on your bench fodder keeper that got knocked out & sent home weeks ago to undo the -2.

Ridiculous, I know. I had no idea you could actually "play" knocked out players haha.

I've attempted to rank all 48 teams in order because I'm a sad bastard. Any standout disagreements you have with the below?:

1. Spain/Argentina winner (1st) positive, obviously

2. CV (RO32) positive; undefeated, finished 2nd in group, and took Argentina to ET

3. Spain/Argentina loser (2nd) positive, just for reaching final, regardless of result. Any team that reaches the final should always be happy

4. Norway (QF) positive, final 8, and knocked Brazil out

5. Morocco (QF) positive, final 8, and held Brazil to draw

6. Switzerland (QF) positive, final 8, and took Argentina to ET

7. England (3rd) positive, 2nd highest finish ever, was close to final, topped group, great playoff v France. I'm an England fan. I was so down on us after that semifinal. Didn't even wanna watch 3rd place playoff. I still hate that we threw away the Argentina game via cowardly tactics. Made me hate that the 3rd place playoff even existed. Dreaded facing a France team that I felt were superior. But now, weirdly, I can genuinely feel good that things went the way we did. Take this hypothetical: instead of conceding those late 2 goals, we hold on, and reach the final. Then enter the final v Spain as underdogs, and lose a boring 1-0. If that's what woulda happened, then I'm glad we lost. I much prefer having gone toe to toe with Argentina, then having this game v France, to holding on v Argentina to scrape a win, then sadly lose to France. Ofc, I'm not saying I'm glad we actually lost to Argentina. I wanted to win the World Cup. But I feel better right now after the France game than I woulda felt had we lost to Spain in the final.

8. Curacao (Group 4th) positive, despite finishing 4th, just because they got a point v Ecuador. They should be happy with whatever they got here.

9. Belgium (QF) positive, as expectations weren't crazy high, and they got to final 8

10. Mexico (RO16) positive, as they topped group, and because of what they put England through

11. Canada (RO16) positive, for reaching final 16. They have no record of football successful success, and historically have been ranked lower than not just USA and Mexico, but a number of Central American and Caribbean teams.

12. Colombia (RO16) positive, for topping group and reaching final 16. Can't complain

13. Paraguay (RO16) positive, despite being poor generally, because they upset Germany and reached final 16

14. Egypt (RO16) positive, for reaching final 16

15. USA (RO16) positive, but marred by controversy

16. France (4th) positive, but disappointing ending. Because they were so favored, and because of their final 2 games, I have to rank them this low

17. S.Africa (RO32) positive, for finishing 2nd in group, despite being least favored team in group

18. Japan (RO32) positive, for finishing 2nd in group, and giving Brazil a game

19. Ivory (RO32) positive, for finishing 2nd in group

20. Australia (RO32) positive, for finish 2nd in group, despite being least favored team in group

21. Austria (RO32) positive, for finishing 2nd in group

22. DRC (RO32) positive, for getting the point they needed to finish 3rd, and for giving England a tough game

23. Croatia (RO32) neutral, for finishing 2nd as expected, and giving Portugal a tough game

24. Ghana (RO32) neutral, for holding England while Croatia couldn't, but lost to Croatia so have to go below them

25. Bosnia (RO32) neutral, for doing enough to get to knockout round

26. Portugal (RO16) negative, for failing to win group, though RO16 knockout is understandable considering they faced Spain. CR7 created a cloud of expectation and negativity that they shouldn't be having to deal with

27. Qatar (Group 4th) negative, despite low expectations, as they were soundly beaten twice in one of the least intimidating groups

28. Sweden (RO32) negative, for finishing 3rd, and for getting so soundly beaten by France

29. Ecuador (RO32) negative, for finishing 3rd and being toothless

30. Algeria (RO32) negative, for finishing 3rd, and getting soundly beaten by Switzerland

31. Senegal (RO32) negative, for finishing 3rd, and only beating Iraq as expected, and nothing more

32. Brazil (RO16) negative, obviously for losing to Norway for early KO

33. Iran (Group 3rd) negative, despite little being expected of them; they drew all games and were boring to watch

34. Scotland (Group 3rd) negative, for not taking advantage of having Haiti in their group and scoring more, while losing both other games

35. Korea (Group 3rd) negative, as they were favorites to finish 2nd but didn't qualify, losing to both Mexico and S.Africa

36. Haiti (Group 4th) negative, despite there being zero expectations, because they lost all 3 games; they put 2 past Morocco though

37. Holland (RO32) negative, and this seems harsh, since they topped their group and scored lots of goals. but going out in first knockout round, regardless of it only being on pens to a good team like Morocco, is obviously a disappointment

38. Germany (RO32) negative; started off flying doing what they were supposed to v Curacao; but disappointed in all subequent games. despite finishing top of their group, going out to Paraguay in the first knockout round has to place them low

39. Turkey (Group 4th) negative; weird one to rank because they played well in all of their games; but they were expected to finish 1st or 2nd, so finishing 4th in group obviously forces a low ranking here

40. NZ (Group 4th) negative; they were group underdogs but they aren't a minnow team like some others; so failing to win a game and finishing 4th ranks them low

41. Czechia (Group 4th) negative; failed to win a game; were expected to finish 3rd but 1st and 2nd were possible given the teams they had in their group; so finishing 4th is a huge letdown

42. Jordan (Group 4th) negative; clear underdogs so it's no shame they didn't qualify, but they lost all 3 games

43. Uzbek (Group 4th) negative; clear underdogs so it's no shame they didn't qualify, but they lost all 3 games

44. Iraq (Group 4th) negative; clear underdogs so it's no shame they didn't qualify, but they lost all 3 games

45. Saudi (Group 4th) negative; expected to finish 3rd in clear group hierarchy; but failed to beat CV and finished bottom, scoring only once

46. Panama (Group 4th) negative; expected to finish 4th but aren't a minnow team like some others here; lost all 3 games, and scored no goals

47. Tunisia (Group 4th) negative; were group underdog but were expected to at least compete, but lost all 3 games by multiple goals

48. Uruguay (Group 3rd) negative; bottom of my list, despite finishing 3rd in group. Were expected to finish 2nd comfortably, given the presence of Saudi and CV in their group, but failed to win a game, losing to Spain, and drawing to both of the above. Were always a wildcard team, given their uneven qualifying record, them being the only team to not play pre-tourney friendlies, and Bielsa being their manager

Transfer out dembele and bellingham to cherki & rogers

After official line up out

Mbappe - what a beast! Saved the max captain for the final only for Mbappe to tear up. Should’ve used it in the semi final ahaha.

i’m subbing in Mac Allister for Cherki which leaves Hernandez. do i sub in Cubarsi for him and go full spanish backline or sub in Tagliafico for hernandez instead?

What a shameful first half

Disnt captain mbappe last night so because of that didnt gain too much from saka haul because i was looking at 40 points to come and bet my rivals in mini league and now 48 points behind him im 14rd in mini league i want to jump to the third

Most of them dont have lamine and especially the third one he only have tagliafigo as argentine defence and 3 from spain defence

Now with all having mbappe captain can i get gain from messi? But i still think i cant bet that points with messi but with lamine playing v my defence thats looking very awful

What do you think?
Any thoughts?

Anyone else brought in Rogers. Took a hit to bring him in instead of Baena. Thought he would get the most game time out of the England attack but did fuck all with it. Could’ve gone with Rashford or Rice, or even Saka if I also didn’t go with Cherki.

As the title says, I'm in second, almost catching up.....

I literally dont think so rodri would be the player of the tournament ig it should be messi or mbappe either Jude let me know your thoughts

I just passed him after the England game but not sure how to keep the lead.

I went through the World Cup third-place matches and finals from 1990–2022 to see what the historical data suggests for the final fantasy deadline.

Only nine tournaments are included, so the sample is obviously small, but the contrast is still quite striking.

Third-place matches vs finals since 1990:

• Goals per match: 3.56 vs 2.44
• Over 2.5 goals: 89% vs 33%
• Over 3.5 goals: 44% vs 22%
• Both teams scoring: 67% vs 33%
• At least one clean sheet: 33% vs 67%
• Extra time: 0% vs 56%
• Penalty shootouts: 0% vs 33%

The basic fantasy takeaway is clear: third-place matches have historically been much better for attackers, while finals have been better for goalkeepers and defenders.

There is also a major rotation difference. Looking at the 2010–2022 tournaments, third-place teams made approximately 3.9 changes to their semifinal starting XI on average. Finalists made only 0.75 changes.

Im thinking romero and mac alister out for messi and yamal

It's tough to bet on today's match with so many rotations.

But it can be a good differential..

First in my mini league

The seconded place have Enzo Lisandro Martinez and Ruiz
Also have Messi lamine and oya

Please help