I asked 5 professional scouts and 5 performance analysts to predict the highest #WorldCupFantasy scorer in MD1. Scouts:🇨🇭 Ndoye ×2 🇳🇴 Haaland 🇩🇪 Musiala 🇦🇹 Sabitzer Analysts: 🇳🇴 Haaland ×2 🇨🇴 Diaz 🇦🇹 Posch 🇩🇪 Sane Almost everyone mentioned Dan Ndoye, but only 2 scouts were willing to pick him outright. The minutes risk is obvious, yet this may be the clearest MD1 mismatch and arguably the strongest tactical fit of the round. Qatar struggles when games become athletic and transitional. Opponents consistently hurt them with direct, vertical attacks through central channels and half-spaces. Ndoye's acceleration over medium distances is elite, and he thrives when attacking open space. Like Embolo, he makes aggressive central runs, but his far-post movement could make him even more dangerous in this specific matchup. Haaland received 3 votes. Teams facing Iraq regularly target a central striker with early deliveries into the box, prioritising direct progression over long build-up. Few teams concede chances through such a repeatable pattern. A penalty-box striker is the archetype you want against them. Sabitzer also received multiple mentions. Several analysts highlighted the value of 90-minute players against Jordan. While Arnautovic is appealing, Jordan frequently loses concentration after the 70th minute, leading to territorial collapse and a surge in second-ball opportunities. Sabitzer, or any reliable 90-minute midfielder, stands to benefit. Posch was another popular pick due to his tendency to exploit unusual attacking situations from deep areas.

World Cup Fantasy corners analysis: 🇵🇹Portugal play Congo, the team conceding the most corners in Africa. Nuno Mendes has taken only 3 fewer corners than Bruno Fernandes, yet nobody is really talking about it enough. 🇧🇪 Maxim De Cuyper plays for a very corners-heavy Belgium side. He took 11 corners for the national team over the season, a solid number, just completely overshadowed by De Bruyne's absurd volume. Still I expect him to take more with KDB's fitness still uncertain. 🇲🇦 If Morocco lose to Brazil, Hakimi becomes even better for MD2/3. Morocco then face the teams with the highest combined corner concessions, and Hakimi is on corners from both sides. MD3/4 could be huge for territorial dominance. 🇸🇪 Daniel Svensson (DEF!) & Yasin Ayari are Sweden's main corner takers. Mentioning them because somehow I've barely seen them included in set-piece threads. 🇧🇪 Kevin De Bruyne & 🇨🇴 James Rodríguez are elite picks for Set-Play xG creation. I am not really comfortable going without them. Feels like they’ll find a way to return points every single game. 🇨🇿 Czechia are also extremely corners-heavy. Coufal takes the majority, but it's worth noting that a large share is evenly distributed among 4 other players too. Krejci remains the main receiver regardless of how many aerial threats they have. Follow for more!

Disappointing first half from Czechia so far. Stupidly aggressive, constantly trying to ping the ball into the final third, but their quality on the ball has been worse than South Africa's.