World Cup Bantam Talk World Cup Draft Competition

Signup: https://sorare.com/invite/pl/AWQAAJ?referrer=simonwakefield
Join Code: AWQAAJ

Sorare are running a Completly Free World Cup Draft competition called the Global Cup with the chance to win some amazing prizes including an all-expenses trip to Marseille for you and a guest to play Football With Zidane Zidane.

They are also allowing for Private Leagues to be created and by joining a private league you have a chance to win a Signed Shirt from one of Sorare Partner clubs (Watch I'll win a Signed Shirt and it will be a Liverpool one lol)

Use the details at the top of the thread to signup for free (if you arent already a sorare member) and enter the Bantam Talk League

For full details you can read the announcement at

 

Joining the League Instructions

After Signing up Login and you will get the choose your sport screen. Click Play Now under Football



You will be taken to the play screen. Click Private Leagues button



Click on the blue Create or Join button



Type the code AWQAAJ into the join a league box



Then click back on Tournament and next to Global Cup click Draft to draft your hand of 8 cards for the Tournament (if you already play Sorare and have some Limited or above cards you may be able to take part in some other World Cup events as well)

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And remember the dates when you will be able to draft some additional cards also for free to further boost your options

 

Oh and if we get a decent number joining I might also throw in a year of ad-free on here (and maybe seem Ethereum) as a prize to the winner of the Bantam Talk League

 

I'll be lucky if I have my team drafted before the cut-off date. 100 points to spend on 8 players isn't much when Neymar and Messi are worth 23 each isn't much. Can't decide if to go big on a couple of players and go really budget on the rest or just go average across the board.

I thought it would be easier, having played Sorare for 2 years now it has seen me consume way more football across the world but even with that it's tough as players who are solid in their league (many of which I own normal Sorare cards of) but if they are starters for their national team is another matter. I was going to go for Gondo as one of my Keepers for example, he is only 9 points and is a solid keeper in Japan but for the national team he seems to split starts Schmidt).

And all the injuries that have been happening to players that are making players doubts for the group stages or out completely is throwing things even more up in the air. Anyway will post my draft when I finalise it and my thinking of my selections

 

I haven’t decided yet, I was considering running a prediction league as a way to test the automated scoring and leaderboard system for the main one which is almost ready. Although I need to actually check out the kick off times to make sure it’s viable as I'm not actually sure what time zone Qatar is in.

As both are free to enter though you can do both. And the sorare one has better prizes on offer

 

@JonButterfield remember to actually join the Private League as you are signed up and entered into the main global cup but haven't joined the Bantam Talk Private league yet.

 

Here are some useful videos both to guide you through how to draft and enter the global cup and some help with scouting some good players for your draft











https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPP_1JkoIsE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA1ak4tVmKo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAEEY-hhaI4

On top of that a few picks that I feel people are sleeping on are

• Matt Turner - Keeper - US
  At just 11 points he is a nailed-on Starter. And this US team is pretty strong so could do well. The only issue is the group is a tough one. While England should win the group it will be close between Wales and the US (The US lacks a Bale or Ramsey but its way more balanced than Wales's squad)
  
  
• Justin Bijlow - Keeper - Holland
  While its hard to know for certain who LVG will go with as a starting keeper the past matches suggest it will be Bijlow. With an easy group and costing only 8 points he could be a bargain. You will want another guaranteed starter though because who starts is up in the air so he might not
  
  
• Walker Zinnermann - Defender - US
  One of the best defenders in the MLS and should do well here
  
  
• Alistair Johnson - Defender - Canada
  Canada could be a real surprise just as they were in qualifying, they really have become a strong team. Most will gravitate to Alphonso Davies but Johnston is a solid scorer both for Canada and in the MLS
  
  
• De Paul - Midfielder - Argentina
  For all the big names in the Argentina Squad De Paul is my pick. At 15 points he isn't the cheapest but he is certainly cheaper than Messi (who has both never really turned up for a World Cup and might be carrying an injury). Nailed on starter and scores consistently
  
  
• Cody Gakpo - Forward - Holland
  With so many quality options to pick up top Gakpo is often being overlooked. They have an easy group, he steeped up a level last season and is playing even better now and is a regular starter. He should get goals and assists

 

There we go. We are raffle eligible now so everyone entered in the league has a chance at the extra signed football shirt prizes for entering a private league Hopefully one of us from here either wins something in the main game or just wins something from the Private League raffle.

 

Finally settled on my draft unless I change my mind before the first match tomorrow and redraft

Keepers I went with Diogo Costa and Nawaf. Portugal are fairly defensive-minded and fairly solid and especially with the group they are in there is a good chance of clean sheets being kept and they should qualify for the knockouts. Nawaf only cost 5 points and was the cheapest keeper that there is a chance he could start

Defenders I went with Blind. The Dutch have a fairly easy group, my only fear is they wrap the group up in the first two rounds of the group and he gets rested in the 3rd. I was looking at going with VVD but the extra point cost wasn't really worth a sacrifice elsewhere (plus picking a Liverpool player made me feel dirty). My backup Defender is Matty Cash, he generally starts for Poland so gives me options if Blind is likely to miss a match or gets injured.

Midfield I was for a long time going between Kimmich and De Bruyne but decided to go elsewhere as it was forcing me to go with Pulisic up top with a point left over as it was the best option for the points I had left. So I instead went with Bruno. He gets goals and assists and is 4 points cheaper than either of those
other 2. And I was thinking that everyone is going to go with one of those and I wanted to do something different. Not to mention Kimmich has a fairly tough group, Germany should get through because Spain isn't the team they used to be but neither is Germany.

My backup is another Pole in Sebastian Szymanski. He has pushed himself into a contender for a starter and with Lewandowski upfront its the perfect striker for him to pick up an assist. And he was really cheap. Polands group also gives them a chance to get out of the group. I did have Japan's Minamino in here for a while for the same price as he does score a fair amount of goals but with Germany and Spain in their group his scoring chances may be limited and he is unlikely to make the knockout rounds

Upfront I went with Messi. I do have concerns about Messi's performance in World Cups and I wasn't considering him because of that, rather looking at Neymar and Mbappe. Mbappe is cheaper but Injuries to their midfielders make the midfield look weak so maybe he won't get the service. And France has struggled to break down Denmark who is their second match and he may not start in the 3rd match. Neymar has the hardest match first so less chance of him scoring well in that are lower and they may have qualified before match 3.

Messi, on the other hand, has the easiest group and the matches are in the right order so he can get good scores in the first 2 rounds and it then matters less if he is rested in the 3rd.

As the second striker, I was tempted to go with Ronaldo but a combination of his lack of football this season has meant get has looked rusty when he has played for United and then deciding to go with Bruno (you can only pick 2 from a nation) made up my mind to go with Gakpo. Holland have a nice group and Gakpo is in great form so really could score well



And my starting 5 is as follows