FanDuel Fantasy Soccer: Thursday World Cup Targets

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Russia and Saudi Arabia open up the World Cup on Thursday, giving the host nation a welcome start against one of the worst teams in the field of 32. Coming in as heavy favorites, the Russians figure to be very popular options for most fantasy players, even if they haven't played very well over the past two years. Because they are playing on home soil, Russia didn't have to go through qualifying, which helped them in the respect that they may not have made it otherwise, though it hurt them because they were forced to essentially play glorified friendlies over the past two years since the Confederations Cup.

You could look at their run of poor results in friendlies and understand the struggles given that they played teams like Argentina (lost 1-0), Spain (drew 3-3), Brazil (lost 3-0) and France (lost 3-1), though their recent 1-0 loss to Austria and 1-1 draw with Turkey doesn't exactly fill us with optimism. But again, Saudi Arabia are significantly worse than those teams and the celebration of Russia as the World Cup opens should see them be the better team Thursday.

One of the first names to look for in cash games is Aleksandr Samedov ($7), though it's a bit unfortunate that he's classified as a defender because it means you're choosing him over Yuri Zhirkov ($8) or any Saudi defenders (more on them later). Both players have been taking set pieces recently and would probably be easy picks in many lineups, but Zhirkov doesn't really do as much as Samedov in open play, so I'll side with the guy who regularly plays as a midfielder.

Aleksandr Golovin ($14) is the second-most expensive player, but he could be the most popular captain because of all the things he does on the pitch. He is coming off a solid season for CSKA Moscow, where he averaged 2.8 shots, including 1.6 on goal, 2.6 fouls drawn and 1.6 chances created per 90 minutes, and at 22 years old he is the the most promising player to become a star during the tournament (at least for Russia). Because of his ability to check so many statistical boxes, he's the ideal player to roster in a game that doesn't figure to be that high scoring, mostly because Russia themselves don't put the ball in the back of the net too often.

If you're more confident in the Russian attack then paying a bit more for Fedor Smolov ($15) makes sense because he'll be leading the line and was just one goal short of the league-lead in Russia this past season. He's an active shooter when he gets the opportunities, and those could certainly come against lowly Saudi Arabia. Pairing Smolov and Golovin would be ideal, though paying that much for two players leaves the rest of the lineup pretty barren.

Speaking of barren, I find it increasingly difficult to pay up for Saudi players, though if you think they can break through then playmaker Taisir Al Jassim ($9) would be a good place to start. He's a decent chance creator and could be playing in a more attacking position than Salman Al Faraj ($9), who is another potential source of chances created.

The Saudi value may actually come more from their central defenders, as the Russians could be attacking a ton and creating clearance opportunities for Omar Hawsawi ($6) and Osama Hawsawi ($5). Defensive stats like tackles, blocked shots and interceptions are not nearly as reliable as clearances, and with Russia expected to dominate possession and likely most of the scoring opportunities, there's no harm in paying down for one of the two players who will be really busy trying to stop them. The biggest issue there is that rostering one of them takes you out of the running for Samedov or Zhirkov, the former of whom could be the source of Russia's chances.