UEFA World Cup Qualifiers: Friday Cheat Sheet

MATCHES

2:45 p.m: Netherlands v. Belarus
2:45 p.m: Belgium v. Boznia and Herzegovina
2:45 p.m: Portugal v. Andorra
2:45 p.m: France v. Bulgaria
2:45 p.m: Hungary v. Switzerland

ODDS REPORT

EXPECTED CORNER TAKERS

Belgium: Dries Mertens, Kevin Mirallas
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Haris Medunjanin, Edin Visca
France: Antoine Griezmann, Dimitri Payet
Bulgaria: Zhivko Milanov, Anton Nedyalkov
Hungary: Attila Fiola, Balazs Dzsudzsak
Switzerland: Blerim Dzemaili
Netherlands: Quincy Promes, Wesley Sneijder
Belarus: Timofey Kalachev
Portugal: Bernardo Silva, Joao Moutinho, Ricardo Queresma
Andorra: Ludovic Clemente, Cristian Martinez

PLAYER RECOMMENDATIONS

GOALKEEPER

Jeroen Zoet, NED vs. BLR: I was hoping that he would come at a little bit of a bigger discount to the bigger name goalkeepers (Rui Patricio, Hugo Lloris), but any time the third-highest priced goalkeeper on DraftKings is a -350 favorite on a team with a 1.5-goal handicap, you have to give him a long look. Zoet's game logs are unimpressive due to lack of sample size, but you could set your watch to his quality starts with PSV that are not represented. Honestly, on a slate with four teams that are massive home favorites it's hard to go wrong with your choice in net, but the aforementioned Lloris faces a Bulgarian squad that netted four goals in their opener and Thibault Courtois, a -285 favorite at home with Belgium, gets the dangerously underrated Bosnian attack. Zoet is a solid, if unspectacular choice for the money.

DEFENDER

Djibril Sidibe, FRA vs. BUL: Spending up on defenders might not be the ideal strategy on this slate with so much firepower to choose from, but if you like safety in the form of high floor defense, paying up for Sidibe is not a bad plan. Sidibe has the ultimate flexibility of being able to play on either the left or right side and, at least with his home club Monaco, he spends more time in the midfield than the back line.

Jeffrey Bruma, NED vs. BLR: For under $4K on DraftKings, the floor that Bruma provides with defensive statistics is, dare I say, elite. He has never seen a challenge he isn't willing to take on, and regularly finishes Bundesliga matches with double-digit tackles and interceptions won. The curious thing that I really like is the sneaky attacking ability that he possesses, and while there are no numbers to support a game of this nature in his past, I wouldn't be surprised to see him use this matchup as an opportunity to fire a few shots and be more involved in the attack on set pieces.

Ildefonso Lima, AND at POR: It won't be hard to roster a combination of defenders who can offer up clean sheet potential, with so many one-sided games to choose from, but it would be very remiss of me to not point out that a defender that will play the full game has snuck through the pricing algorithm: you wouldn't select Lima and expect him to score you 15 points, but he will be on the field the whole match and will take a couple shots, as well as have ample opportunity to win some tackles and intercept the ball. If you want to cram in firepower up front, Lima will hit his value.

MIDFIELDER

Dimitri Payet, FRA vs. BUL: What more can you say about Payet that hasn't already been said? It's not even a bold claim anymore to say he's one of the most creative players of this generation and surely the national team is a good outlet for him to take out some of the frustrations he must be feeling from the woeful EPL season that he is having with West Ham. Even though his team's results have been on a downswing, his fantasy game is as potent as ever, as he took two shots and sent in 12 crosses in just 33 minutes in his last international match, and he hasn't scored fewer than 10 DraftKings points for West Ham in games when he played more than 45 minutes.

Thorgan Hazard, BEL vs. BIH: This is purely a speculative pick, but with Kevin De Bruyne unavailable, the younger Hazard may be called to fill in his spot. If not, I recommend rostering whoever plays in place of De Bruyne and utilizing this same analysis.

With so many world class midfielders all priced similarly, it will take some creative thinking to win one of the bigger tournaments on this slate, and the "other" Hazard is a spot where I will be laying a few of my lineups. Sure, international play is a step up in quality from the hat trick that he scored with Borussia Monchengladbach against Young Boys, but I love a midfielder who isn't afraid to shoot. Hazard is on the cheaper end of the borderline elite midfielders, and while I think the pricing algorithm is underestimating this match, I really like Belgium's spot. Teams like Andorra and Bulgaria facing Portugal and France, respectively, will be focused on shutting down and just allowing as few goals as possible, whereas Bosnia actually possesses a potent attack and will allow Belgium their opportunities in an effort to keep this game wide open. I think the Belgian midfield will have decent passage into the attacking third and should get a fair share of opportunity.

Haris Medunjanin, BIH at BEL: Taking into account everything above, the Bosnian attack is simply too cheap. They are still a big underdog, yes, but of the big underdogs that have the best chance to do some legitimate damage, and with the role that Medunjanin plays he is almost a must-play at a reduced price. The Maccabi Tel Aviv man should be on corners and handling most of the crossing for the Bosnians, and again, this attack has some length and can hurt Belgium if they are firing on all cylinders. With Medunjanin on corner duty, he is firmly in play in all formats and can help fit in that extra high-priced forward.

FORWARD

Cristiano Ronaldo, POR vs. AND: Ronaldo is good at football. Has this been said enough? If you really want to nitpick, Ronaldo actually hasn't scored in La Liga play in almost a month, and though he scored in their last Champions League outing, the word "drought" has been tossed around a bit. I mentioned how Payet could be using the international break to vent his frustrations, well how could you fade a frustrated Ronaldo getting to tee off against an Andorra squad this is overmatched in every statistical category? It just adds to the narrative that this will be Ronaldo's first match for his country since suffering a knee injury at the European Championship final. This isn't the spot to get cute, you almost have to fit him in.

Edin Dzeko, BIH at BEL: It's a veritable murderer's row at the top of the forward price list, so it's worth mentioning a player who possesses just as much talent for a small discount. Dzeko loves to shoot, and while it's not always pretty, shots are golden in daily fantasy. In a sport where 15-20 shots in 90 minutes is entirely reasonable, having a player on your team that will take 10 shots per game is just a huge boost to the attack. Anything can happen, and the pure volume that Dzeko puts towards the net increases his value significantly.

Ivelin Popov, BUL at FRA: Moving on down the list of players a goalkeeper has nightmares about, Popov isn't the most appealing name on this slate, but there is no way you can roster everyone you want. It's pretty easy to get name-drunk on all the stars at the top, but value will be essential here. Popov is an attack-minded midfielder who flashed some scoring touch against Luxembourg, and while that isn't much to brag about, he is not too far removed from his best years at Krasnodar and is contributing well for Moscow in the Russian League. France is not known for stingy defense these days, so there is nothing wrong with taking a chance on Popov in tournaments, especially if you aren't using Lloris as your goalkeeper.