Euro 2016 opened on Friday with the host side France taking on Romania in the first match. On Saturday, the tournament will get well underway with three matches on the schedule. That means plenty of opportunities for soccer fans to make some money in DraftKings tournaments where with six rosters to choose from. We broke down the games to figure out the best possible combination of star players and sleeper value plays. Here is a look at the optimal lineup for Saturday’s DraftKings Euro fantasy tournaments.
GK: Yann Sommer, Switzerland
Salary: $5,000
Switzerland enters this tournament as one of the favorites to emerge from Group A alongside France. They will need to gain the maximum three points versus Albania in their opener on Saturday and that shouldn’t be a problem. Switzerland is listed as the biggest favorite on the board for Saturday’s matches at -120 to win and we have no problem rolling with Sommer as the Swiss look to shut the door on Albania.
D: Michael Lang, Switzerland
Salary: $4,300
With so many quality strikers available up front it only makes sense to try and save some money with strong value options on the back end. Lang is a quality starter that should be able to hold his own defensively with the potential for a clean sheet bonus to add to his fantasy score for Saturday.
D: Johan Djourou, Switzerland
Salary: $3,100
Djourou is available at just over $1K less than his teammate Lang and should also be in the starting lineup on Saturday for Switzerland. Albania is listed at +233 just to earn a draw and we are predicting that the Swiss shut them out in a low scoring game.
M: Valon Behrami, Switzerland
Salary: $4,300
Behrami will line up on the right side of the Switzerland midfield and should be a key contributor to their attack. The Swiss should have no problem winning the ball control battle and it Behrami can factor in to the offense then he will be a major steal at just $4.3K.
M: Gelson Fernandes, Switzerland
Salary: $3,700
Fernandes represents our fifth straight pick from Switzerland and there is a common trend here. The Swiss are substantial favorites and all of the players we have locked in will start in what should be a win. The money we saved to this point will allow us to go big with some star players up front to fill out our lineup.
F: Harry Kane, England
Salary: $10,800
Kane will line up with Wayne Rooney and Jamie Vardy to make up an intriguing cast of attacking forward for England at this tournament. Scoring has been an issue for England in past tournaments, but that likely won’t be the case here with Kane leading the way up front beginning with a game against Russia on Saturday night. The Russians boast a decent unit but they have some holes that England can expose. The question is whether or not England has the proper midfielders who can thread through the balls to Kane that he needs to succeed.
F: Gareth Bale, Wales
Salary: $9,800
Wales will be in tough to beat Slovakia in its opener but they do have the talent to hang around with them, including a world-class striker in Bale. There might not be many scoring chances in this game but Wales will get his and he might only need a couple to find the score sheet as another elite striker option for Saturday. He’s an expensive addition to our Euro fantasy lineup but he’s the type of player that can single-handedly make the difference.
UTIL: Jamie Vardy, England
Salary: $9,000
With exactly $9K left over for our final FLEX spot, we have the luxury of turning to Vardy as the perfect addition to slide right in to this spot. Vardy is coming off a dominant Premier League campaign in which he helped lead Leicester City to an improbable championship and English soccer fans will be hoping his dominance translates up front at Euro 2016. This will be his first major tournament, so we’re not fully sure what to expect, but we’re hoping he carries over his performance from the EPL.
