After a wait that seemed like an eternity, the games are now coming thick and fast, with Gameweek 2 taking place from Tuesday the 19th through Sunday the 24th of June. The favourites have underwhelmed so far, leaving us none the wiser as to who will likely succeed at this World Cup. Nevertheless, we can always analyse the bookies’ odds to try and glean an advantage…

Note: at the time of writing, due to the short turnaround between games, the anytime goalscorer odds for the second round of games for teams in groups E to H are not yet available, so we have unfortunately had to overlook their attacking players (for the integrity of the article).

Defensive odds

Team Best clean sheet odds Implied chance of a clean sheet Brazil 1.42 70% England 1.44 69% Spain 1.46 68% Uruguay 1.56 64% Belgium 1.83 55% Germany 1.91 52% Mexico 1.91 52% Portugal 2.05 49% France 2.1 48% Denmark 2.15 47% Russia 2.25 44% Argentina 2.38 42% Senegal 2.6 38% Colombia 2.75 36% Switzerland 2.75 36% Iceland 2.8 36% Serbia 3 33% Nigeria 3 33% Egypt 3.4 29% Poland 3.55 28% Japan 3.75 27% Croatia 4 25% Australia 4 25% Morocco 5 20% South Korea 5.5 18% Peru 6.5 15% Sweden 8 13% Tunisia 8.5 12% Panama 10 10% Iran 11 9% Costa Rica 12 8% Saudi Arabia 13 8%

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After a disappointing opening draw against Switzerland, Brazil will look to kickstart their World Cup campaign against Costa Rica, who blanked against Serbia in their first game. The favourites for the tournament are also the bookies’ favourites to keep a clean sheet in Gameweek 2, rated as having a 70% chance of doing so. Danilo offers a cheap, attacking and secure option from Tite’s back line – he dons the captain’s armband for our side.



Kieran Trippier keeps his place in our starting XI with England rated the next likeliest side to record a shutout (69%) in the second round of fixtures. They face Panama on Sunday lunchtime.



We again opt for a 4-3-3 formation, completing our back line with a mix of value, attacking potential and starting security. That sees us select Nacho (68%), who scored in Gameweek 1, Fernando Muslera (64%) and Dedryck Boyata (55%) ahead of games against Iran, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia respectively.



On the bench, Mat Ryan and Jesus Gallardo offer goalkeeping and defensive backup ahead of their respective matches against Denmark and South Korea.

Attacking odds

Player Best anytime goalscorer odds Implied chance of scoring Luis Suarez 1.58 63% Edinson Cavani 1.61 62% Diego Costa 1.89 53% Cristiano Ronaldo 2.02 50% Rodrigo 2.04 49% Maximiliano Gomez 2.2 45% Christian Stuani 2.2 45% Iago Aspas 2.2 45% Antoine Griezmann 2.3 43% Lionel Messi 2.33 43% Olivier Giroud 2.4 42% Isco 2.55 39% Kylian Mbappe 2.6 38% Fedor Smolov 2.88 35% Sergio Aguero 3 33% Artem Dzyuba 3 33% Kasper Dolberg 3 33% Nicolai Jorgensen 3.15 32% Gonzalo Higuain 3.2 31% Nabil Fekir 3.3 30% Ousmane Dembele 3.3 30% Andreas Cornelius 3.35 30% Florian Thauvin 3.5 29% Paulo Dybala 3.55 28% Thomas Lemar 3.6 28% Mario Mandzukic 4 25% Paul Pogba 4 25% Nikola Kalinic 4.6 22% Jose Paolo Guerrero 4.75 21% Ayoub El Kaabi 4.75 21% Aleksei Miranchuk 5 20% Aleksandr Samedov 5 20% Andrej Kramaric 5.1 20% Ivan Perisic 5.5 18% Youssef En-Nesyri 5.75 17% Aleksandr Golovin 6 17% Romelu Lukaku Odds not available Odds not available Harry Kane Odds not available Odds not available Neymar Odds not available Odds not available Gabriel Jesus Odds not available Odds not available Robert Lewandowski Odds not available Odds not available Michy Batshuayi Odds not available Odds not available Jamie Vardy Odds not available Odds not available Timo Werner Odds not available Odds not available Mario Gomez Odds not available Odds not available Eden Hazard Odds not available Odds not available Radamel Falcao Odds not available Odds not available Roberto Firmino Odds not available Odds not available Thomas Muller Odds not available Odds not available Marcus Rashford Odds not available Odds not available Aleksandar Mitrovic Odds not available Odds not available Danny Welbeck Odds not available Odds not available Raheem Sterling Odds not available Odds not available Dries Mertens Odds not available Odds not available Marco Reus Odds not available Odds not available Marcus Berg Odds not available Odds not available Kamil Wilczek Odds not available Odds not available Carlos Bacca Odds not available Odds not available Philippe Coutinho Odds not available Odds not available Aleksandar Prijovic Odds not available Odds not available Dele Alli Odds not available Odds not available Jesse Lingard Odds not available Odds not available Nikola Maksimovic Odds not available Odds not available Luka Jovic Odds not available Odds not available James Rodriguez Odds not available Odds not available Arkadiusz Milik Odds not available Odds not available Sadio Mane Odds not available Odds not available Paulinho Odds not available Odds not available Nacer Chadli Odds not available Odds not available Youssef Ennesyri Odds not available Odds not available Thorgan Hazard Odds not available Odds not available Julian Brandt Odds not available Odds not available

Uruguayan duo Luis Suarez (63%) and Edinson Cavani (62%) headline our attack. Despite neither scoring in their opener against Egypt, the nature of Saudi Arabia’s 5-0 defeat against Russia means that the bookies’ fancy both of La Celeste’s start strikers to plunder the points against the Gulf nation.



Diego Costa (53%) completes a formidable front three for our squad ahead of his game against Iran. He notched 2 against Portugal on Friday to throw his hat into the ring as an early Golden Boot contender, whilst in midfield we double up on the Spanish attack in the form of Isco (39%), who was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet against the Portuguese.



Completing our starting XI are Paul Pogba (25%) and Aleksandr Samedov (20%). France’s big midfielder was extremely fortunate to be credited with the winner against Australia, but that could turn out to be just the slice of luck he needs to star this summer. Samedov, meanwhile, didn’t score points in Russia’s thumping victory last Thursday, but the bookies still fancy his attacking qualities to pay dividends this Tuesday against Egypt, with the hosts looking to become the first team to book their place in the knockout stages.



A pair of budget midfielders complete our bench, with Yuri Gazinskiy of Russia, who scored the first goal of the tournament, and Emil Hallfredsson of Iceland two secure starters in the £4.5m bracket.

Bookies Dream Team

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Good luck with your World Cup fantasy teams this weekend!

May the odds be with you 🙏

Daniel Victory is a Fantasy football and anytime goalscorer betting enthusiast. Enjoys SSS – statistics, strategizing and spreadsheets. Follow his great tips on Twitter.