Day 2 provided a huge shock with the Dutch succumbing to the Danes 1-0. To their credit a few brave souls did invest in the Danish attack – Doosra going for Dennis Rommedahl (0.8%) and Sporting ABG going for Christian Eriksen (9.5%). The only attacking points of the game, though, went to king of the differentials Michael Krohn-Dehli (0.3%). There was reward, however, for those who picked the seemingly suicidal option of Andersen (2.9%) in goal. Mark and TommyTour were rewarded by an unexpected clean sheet and a 7 point payoff. Big kudos to them, and as the first big successful gamble so far, this puts them as frontrunners for now.

Tonight is perfectly written to be another underdog story. We have Spain v Italy first up followed by Croatia v Ireland, with the Italian and Irish defences the homes of the brave. Surely no-one could be crazy enough to go for their attack? Not when Doosra is in the house. Fresh from his Rommedahl punt, he’s chosen Italian bolt from the blue Antonio Cassano (1.5%) to score against Spain! Similarly in search of glory are Daniel and ENR who have both gone for Irish midfielder Aiden McGeady (4.4%) and Camzy who has gone for Andrews (12.9%). While ownership of these bargain basement picks looks relatively high, neither is particularly fancied on FFS, and recovered balls may have played a part in their thinking.

Onto the defences then, and we have an impressive list of players with the chutzpah to back the Italian and Irish backlines. Bonucci (1.7%) is backed by champion risk-taker Doosra and Childish Gambino, while Balzaretti (1%) is backed by SuperDunny and Mac. With continuing uncertainty over whether Italy will play 3-5-2, they also get the credit of having made a gamble on the starting lineups. Those who plumped for the boys in green picked three separate defenders, quite possibly distinguishing between them based on recovered balls. China Mag went for block machine Dunne (4.8%), Ginkapo and Isacki went for St Ledger (0.9%) and Mac and Jonty for FPL favourite Ward (1.2%). Finally, as the cheapest decent goalkeeper in the game, Shay Given (10.5%) was an extremely popular option in countless squads across FFS, and so won’t be considered as a differential for the Order of Extreme Valour.


Catch the manager reactions here

Having written the FFS Euro 2012 report last night, we now turn to the FFS Friendly World Cup to review who’s been brave so far and who’s being brave tonight!

In the first day’s action the highest scorers were Dzagoev (6.8%), Shirokov (13.5%) and Lewandowski (23%). With the latter two in widespread ownership, and the first an FFS bandwagon owned by a large number of participating managers, these three were too popular to be considered. The most valorous pick would have been the Polish substitute goalkeeper who saved the Greek penalty – Tyton – not that anyone had him of course. Credit does go to Evs who selected Russian striker Kerzhakov (2.7%) but his 5 point return didn’t quite come off. It should have been so much better given his chances of course.

So what valour awaits tonight? Tonight we have Netherlands v Denmark and Germany v Portugal, with the bravest picks almost exclusively Danish. First up is JKisthe1 who has incredibly gone for attacking midfielder Michael Krohn-Dehli (0.3%) to get involved in the goals (if there are any) against Denmark. Is this a sign of genius or madness? Next up, we have Teddy and BonZ who have plumped for the highly-rated but similarly massively outgunned midfielder Christian Eriksen (9.5%). With a relatively high ownership, he is virtually absent on FFS boards – brave enough for us. Finally, a host of players have gone for seemingly doomed Danish keeper Andersen (2.9%), perhaps in an effort to balance their budgets. Wazzagoal, Teddy, Catmac and Goldstonemr – take a bow!

Finally, a report on Extreme Valour would not be complete without a mention of quite another type of valour. It takes valour to include a nobody. But it takes a completely different type of valour to exclude a somebody. A somebody up against vulnerable opposition who ends up scoring in a 4-1 thrashing. Yes, benching Shirokov. I’m afraid that won’t qualify for a prize, but consider this your reward. Ladies and Gentlemen, James_Fitz!

Stay tuned for our Day 2 report and preview of Day 3!

Some reactions from managers here

So here’s our first progress review of Euro 2012! With every manager’s squad released following the Matchday 1 deadline, we’ve now peeked through the squads to spot contenders of valour!

First, let’s review today’s results. With no clean sheets, the big winners today in points order were Dzagoev (6.8%), Shirokov (13.5%) and Lewandowski (23%). With the latter two in widespread ownership, and the first an FFS bandwagon owned by a large number of participating managers, the valour was somewhat diminished. The most valorous pick today would have been the Polish substitute goalkeeper who saved the Greek penalty – Tyton, as everyone knows – but unsurprisingly, no-one was unhinged enough to choose him. I feel I should name Childish Gambino for plumping for the spectacularly unpopular Greek striker Gekas (0.8%). Unfortunately it didn’t come off.

So what feats of valour tantalize us tomorrow? Tomorrow brings us Netherlands v Denmark and Germany v Portugal. While Germany and Portugal is barren ground for surprises, the Danish offer potential for gloriously loopy picks, and inevitably, here it comes: Yes, Doosra has picked Danish striker Dennis Rommedahl (0.8%) to score against the Netherlands, and while the site won’t let us verify this yet, it is understood he is also on captaincy. Bloody hell, someone give that man a medal. What else do we have? Sporting ABG has sportingly gone for Christian Eriksen (9.5%)! While his ownership is relatively high, he is a non-starter on FFS boards and we have to say that is a gamble! A few brave or extremely stingy souls (Mark and TommyTour) have also gone for Danish keeper Andersen (2.9%). A clean sheet would be startling. If he saves a penalty, the phones will start ringing…

Stay tuned for our Day 2 report and preview of Day 3!

The origins of the Order of Extreme Valour lie as far back as the timeless games of “who can creep closest to the sleeping woolly mammoth?” and “who wants to throw a rock at the wasp’s nest?”, closely followed by the novel game of “who can run away the fastest without tripping over their own feet?”. Notable sources of inspiration for the Order include The 300 (“who can fight the most Persians at once?”), William Tell (“who can hit an apple on top of someone’s head?”), Julius Caesar (“who can get stabbed by the most knives?”), and Bear Grylls (“who can drink their own piss?”).

This, however, is 2012. June 2012, to be precise, when the greatest competition on Earth is kicking off. Not Euro 2012 of course – It’s Euro 2012 Fantasy Football! The objective of the Order is to reward risk-taking. Gambling, punting, chancing, you name it. Specifically, we will award the Order of Extreme Valour on the final day of every Matchday to the individual manager who takes the riskiest SUCCESSFUL GAMBLE of that matchday. (Discretion is the best part of valour, remember?) Separate awards will be made for the Euro 2012 and Friendly World Cup competitions, and there is no limit to how many times someone can win the award. Awards will be made based on final teams at the end of the Matchday.

A “successful gamble” is defined as a single player choice that returns an unexpectedly high number of points. 
Only players selected by a maximum of 10% of participating managers (3 from 32) will be considered. 

The awards will be given on these criteria:

Underappreciation – The more they’re expected to score, the less they are considered. Low ownership is a great indicator – Ola Toivonen, your time is now – although picking a popular player who is generally despised by serious fantasy players counts too.

Overachievement – The player needs to score more points than expected, the more the better. Stewart Downing scoring a goal – that would give us some serious thinking to do. But it’s not just restricted to attackers. Sean St Ledger keeping a clean sheet against Spain would be unexpected, for example, and would merit consideration.

Underdog – Weaker teams have less support for a player, making their feats all the more remarkable. Everybody loves an underdog story, and we’ll reward it.

Captaincy – If the captaincy remains on the player at the end of the Matchday, this will earn brownie points for sheer audacity.

We will also give “honorary mentions” to those managers who were particularly close in the running. Good luck, be brave, and we look forward to presenting the Matchday 1 awards on the evening of Monday 11th June!

Yours gallantly,
The Light Knight
Isacki