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RotoBaller soccer expert Vince Dray breaks down the EURO 2020 DFS slate for FanDuel on 6/12/21.
Hello, RotoBallers! After a short two weeks off, DFS soccer on FanDuel returned to our lives Friday as Italy beat Turkey 3-0 in the opening match of this summer's EURO 2020 tournament. If you're unfamiliar, this is a soccer tournament amongst European nations that takes place every four years (opposite the World Cup). Countries have been qualifying over the last several years, but now we're down to the last 24 that are split into groups of four. They play a round-robin schedule to determine who advances to the knockout stage. The tournament will go on for about a month giving us some great DFS soccer to tide us over until the club season begins again. I have a full breakdown for you covering this slate. Keep reading this breakdown for my DFS soccer picks on RotoBaller and see how to have success on Saturday's slate.
The large majority of my DFS content will be covering the EURO 2020 tournament until the EPL returns in August, however, there is always more soccer DFS to cover. If you want to chop it up with myself and other RotoBaller writers about non-EPL/UCL leagues or other sports, consider becoming a premium member and joining our ever-growing community of DFS and fantasy sports enthusiasts! We have had some great conversations in the Premium Slack chat about the past few UCL slates.
You can also get access to my brain for questions and edits to lineups for Wednesday. In this article, I will be providing you with my EURO 2020 daily fantasy soccer lineup picks for FanDuel on 6/12/21 for the slate that locks at 9:00 am ET. Be sure to also check out our other DFS lineup picks for other active sports. You can always find me on Twitter @vdray5 if you have any questions. Good luck, RotoBallers!
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UCL DFS Lineup Picks - Overview
Wales vs Switzerland
The second game of Group A will lead us off Saturday morning as Wales take on Switzerland (+110). It would not be a surprise if neither of these teams qualifies for the next round of the tournament, however, a win in this first game would give each squad some belief that they can reach the knockout stage. Switzerland is the favorite in this game and are the better team on paper, however, it should be a fairly even game. Vegas has the goal total over/under set at just 1.5, 2 – which is one of the lowest I’ve seen recently. This early game will not have much fantasy relevance.
Denmark vs Finland
Group B kicks off with some people’s tournament dark horse in Denmark (-235) taking on Finland – who are generally considered as one of the five worst teams in the tournament. Back in March, Denmark ran through some opponents in World Cup qualifying games by a combined score of 14-0, then followed that up with a 1-1 draw against Germany and a 2-0 win over Bosnia & Herzegovina in June. They will have the upper hand in this game against Finland and will make for some good DFS plays. The goal total over/under is 2, 2.5.
Russia vs Belgium
Belgium (-120) are one of the favorites to win the tournament and start their campaign against Russia Saturday. Russia was impressive at the 2018 World Cup finishing second in their group and then beating Spain to advance to the quarterfinals on home soil. They ended up losing to Croatia on penalty kicks three summers ago. However, their first game in this EURO is a brutally tough matchup against a stacked Belgium side. The Belgians have not lost a game dating back to October of last year against England and should be ready to prove their worth in this game. The goal total over/under is 2, 2.5 – with good odds of going over. Belgium will garner a lot of attention and ownership on this slate.
FanDuel DFS Forwards / Midfielders
Belgium will be popular on this slate given their form and matchup, so let's start there. Romelu Lukaku ($21) has the best odds to score on the entire slate at +145. That might not seem great for those of you who read my EPL/UCL content, but there are historically far fewer goals in Euro competitions with only 2.34 goals per game over the last 40 years. Lukaku is coming off an incredible scoring season as he helped Inter Milan win Serie A, and he just scored last week against Croatia in a tune-up match. Lukaku should have free reign against this Russian team that is allowing a decent number of shots and chances as well.
Pairing Lukaku with Dries Mertens ($18) as a secondary Belgian attacker will be a popular strategy. Mertens is set for a bump up with both Kevin de Bruyne and Eden Hazard missing the match. He was productive in his matches with Belgium leading up to the competition. Rostering the two together makes salary a little tight, but there are some cheaper Belgian attackers worth exploring. My recommended play is Youri Tielemans ($10) for significantly cheaper than Thorgan Hazard ($14), although both are viable.
The second team to focus on here Saturday is Denmark as the largest favorite on the slate. They have been playing very well as a group and look primed to challenge some of the big names in this competition. He's taking on a Finland team that is not good defensively. Christian Eriksen ($16) is my top play from Denmark. His goal contributions, ability to create chances, and responsibilities on set pieces create a great floor for him at a really fair price. Now is a great matchup to get him before he becomes more expensive. Pairing Eriksen with another Denmark attacker in a mini-stack is a strong strategy. Yussuf Poulsen ($22) is pretty expensive, but there's no doubt this is a good matchup. You can get some pretty good goal odds and likely lower ownership with Martin Braithwaite ($18) and Andreas Skov Olsen ($14) who are +260 and +275 to score respectively.
Harry Wilson ($12) and Robin Lod ($7) are both good salary-saving options on this slate.
FanDuel DFS Defenders
Ricardo Rodriguez ($14) is THE pay-up defender on the slate. He has a good fantasy floor with tackles and interceptions, but the goal/assist upside is why we're targeting him here. He can create plenty of chances too especially in a game like this against Wales.
Whoever starts between Timothy Castagne ($11) and Thomas Meunier ($11) is going to be another good defender option for some attacking upside. Each can provide some attacking stats especially on one of the most dominant attacking groups in the tournament. It's a solid way to add to your Belgium exposure without using another FWD/MID spot.
As always, I like taking a shot at some of the cheaper defenders on the slate on an underdog team. That happens to be Finland this time around. Both Paulus Arajuuri ($6) and Joona Toivio ($5) should fare well in the game environment as punts.
FanDuel DFS Goalkeepers
Thibaut Courtois ($12) will probably be one of the more popular GKs on this slate. He has a strong chance at both GK bonuses on this slate which is appealing. Russia are also formidable enough to put some shots on goal which helps Courtois make some saves.
Kasper Schmeichel ($13) is another strong GK option. While he might see fewer saves than Courtois, Vegas has him as the most likely GK to get the win bonus.
If you're fading the field and going light on Belgium attackers, taking a chance with Anton Shunin ($8) makes sense. He has a great floor with tons of shots likely coming from Belgium and a very large upside if Russia can keep the Belgians contained.
Thanks for reading my EPL DFS lineup picks breakdown on RotoBaller and good luck!
