This article is part of our DraftKings Fantasy Soccer series.
The World Cup continues on during match day two with clashes in group C and D on Saturday. We have already seen a wild tournament and I only expect things to get wilder as some of these teams are going to be fighting for their lives. Argentina are the biggest favorite on the slate at -185 and then we have France and Poland behind them at -130.
FORWARDS
Lionel Messi, ARG vs MEX ($11,800): Argentina were stunned by Saudi Arabia in their opener and now know they must win to have any hope of advancing. Messi is expensive, but I do prefer him to Kylian Mbappe as France go up against Denmark and I prefer another of their pieces at a discount. Messi scored early in the opener via penalty and then showed his strong floor the rest of the game. I don't love stacking up Argentina here and the only other play I'm considering is Angel Di Maria ($8,900). I don't think you can prioritize him in cash games but makes an interesting tournament pairing to go with Messi.
Antoine Griezmann, FRA vs. DEN ($9,400): Griezmann was heavily involved in the attack, splitting set pieces with Kylian Mbappe for France. This is a game where I could see France struggling a bit. They are coming off a win and now get a hungry Denmark side who has had their number recently. This shouldn't affect Griezmann's floor as he is easily my favorite price play for France. My second favorite piece for them is Ousmane Dembele ($8,000) who looked good against Australia. After that I have a hard time paying for Mbappe who obviously has major upside in any matchup, and Olivier Giroud will likely be over owned due to his brace in game 1. He also doesn't fit the script I see with Denmark causing them some problems, since he is goal dependent.
Poland get a good matchup with Saudi Arabia and Robert Lewandowski ($9,100) has the best goal scoring odds on the slate at -120. I could see this making him fairly popular in cash games, but I do prefer the floor plays mentioned above in that format.
The cheap options on this slate are really GPP only in my opinion. You have the Denmark options of Kasper Dolberg ($5,400) and Andreas Skov Olsen ($6,500) followed by Mexico's Henry Martin ($5,500).
MIDFIELDERS
Piotr Zielinski, POL vs RSA ($7,000): Zielinski is the way I want to get Poland exposure as he was over all but one set piece for them in game one. We are going to need some value at some point on this slate but you don't want to sacrifice the raw points that some of these guys can give you to gain 2-3 points more in the projection of the value you put with them. Zielinski can be paired with the aforementioned Lewandowski in GPPs.
Christian Eriksen, DEN vs FRA ($7,200): I don't think you can get here in cash games with Denmark being a solid underdog but with what we saw from Eriksen in game one you have to have interest in GPPs. He fits the builds well that I mentioned above and Denmark possibly grabbing a result in this one. He took all 13 sets for Denmark against Tunisia and while he probably won't have that volume here. He got a massive discount from DraftKings.
We are again starved for value here and I am going to prefer to punt at defender moreso than in the midfield. We saw Adrien Rabiot's upside against Australia and while I don't see him replicating that he is $5,700 if you want some salary relief. The Denmark pieces of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg ($5,300) and Mikkel Damsgaard ($5,100) are still a little expensive in this matchup for me but are viable in GPPs.
DEFENDERS
Theo Hernandez, FRA vs. DEN ($6,200): Hernandez came on fairly early for his injured brother and put up a strong stat line. It may be hard to fit him but it's possible if you go with the cheaper side of the France attack in Dembele or Griezmann.
Matty Cash, POL vs. RSA ($4,700): The Villa man is a player who likes to get forward and cross the ball giving us a strong floor. You didn't see much of that in the matchup with Mexico but I think you definitely could here. At a sub $5k price he makes for a strong value option.
If you want to stack these high priced plays you may need to punt at least one defender spot. It makes sense to pair one of them with your goal keeper for a clean sheet stack, or with a set piece taker for set piece goal upside if you take a center back. Kamil Glik ($2,900) is the first one that pops for me. He pairs well with Zielinski for set piece upside or Szczesny for the clean sheet.
GOALKEEPERS
Mohammed Al-Owais, RSA vs. POL ($4,000): I can almost guarantee that you will see me using an underdog goalie on Saturday. It fits the build and I don't have a problem clicking on any of these three. I like the floor guys for Poland, but not necessarily the goal dependent ones such as Lewandowski. We saw the brilliance of Guillermo Ochoa in game one and he could very well do the same here against an Argentina side who has a lot of pressure on them. Kasper Schmeichel fits the Denmark builds mentioned above as well. All of these goalies should see their share of action which gives them solid save upside whether they keep it fully clean or not.
