The Russian Premier League release at the end of last week had 10 new clubs added to Sorare. We covered the U23s (except one player saved for today!) and the goalkeepers in the league with a focus on the newest clubs added. This week there will be a couple of club-specific Scouting Reports hitting the site and a look at the best of the the best. It is rare that I cover exclusively the most expensive options, but because there is about to be a two month winter break there may be auction deals available for a patient manager who is willing to buy now and play later. I’m basing this in part on the recent price fluctuation for Erling Haaland’s Limited card where - minus that lovely bit of bargain hunting at 0.303 - his cards had been holding in the 0.35-0.45 range. One goal later? Over 0.600.
There is no doubt that Haaland is one of the most useful cards at every scarcity. The Dortmund superstar had missed a number of weeks with injury and saw his prices flatten and then decline. Within minutes of his Saturday substitute appearance - in which he played 17’ and scored - the price went up 50%. That’s a good reminder buying elite players off-cycle, or during injury, remains the only consistent way to acquire them at a discount.
Hattip SorareData where the pricing chart, and all the data visualizations in this article, was sourced.
B-SAD Could Not B-Better Named
The entire story is insane and you likely already know bits. The match between Belenenses and Benefica was abandoned after the hosts were reduced to six men through injury. Let’s back up a moment. Primeira Liga clash began with B SAD fielding only nine players, including two goalkeepers, after the club was decimated by COVID infection and close contacts. The team notified the league but did not request a postponement. The league allowed the match to go ahead and it was 0-7 to the visitors at the half. The Sorare scores? Yeah, they were quite good. Then all hell broke lose.
Coming out of the tunnel the hosts were down to seven (7) and a 46’ injury forced the match to be abandoned. Sorare temporarily kept the scores up, then they went down when Opta’s feed reflected the match as abandoned.
Benfica’s President has taken to the press and the front page of the club’s site to disclaim any prior knowledge or the farce which unfolded on Saturday.
Rui Costa was clear in his intervention in the press room at the Estádio Nacional. "We regret what happened at Jamor, this black page of Portuguese football and of the country itself . Under no circumstances was Benfica found or found about this game being held. Benfica complied with the regulations, was obliged to do so, as well as B SAD If Benfica didn't show up, they'd lose the points. We should all be ashamed of what happened , but under no circumstances is Benfica responsible for what happened . does not benefit Portuguese football, but do not pass that burden on to Benfica. The two entities that could postpone this game, the Directorate-General for Health and the League, did not do it, it couldn't be Benfica doing it either,” he said.
The leader of the eagles detailed the events, stressing that until seeing the game sheet Benfica did not know how many players B SAD would have available to go to the game. " Benfica was already equipped without knowing who was going to play.
The direct implications for Sorare managers are equally cloudy. We have had a match abandoned recently. Following Dimitri Payet being struck in the head by a thrown bottle, the Lyon - Marseilles match was abandoned early in the first half. Sorare, following Ligue 1 and Opta, scored the matches as DNPs in SO5 because there was no match to score. That match is decidedly different from what happened in France because the Portuguese FA has recognized the match as a 7-0 win for Benfica which only played 46 minutes. Currently that means Opta has statistics recorded and the early word from Sorare is that the stats as recorded will stand in SO5 scoring.
There is only one minor complication in that clean sheets are not assessed until 60 minutes has been played and there were not 60 minutes on offer. At one point on Saturday, SorareData had this as the final scoring from the match and, pending any scoring corrections, I would expect that the final Sorare-approved points would look very close to these.
And I would assume that there would be clear guidance published by the site in their rule about such a situation moving forward.
MONDAY UPDATE:
Scouting Russia’s Newest U23 Star
When Russia’s final 10 teams hit the market, they did bring a handful of high-quality Sorare assets with them. As you can see in the U23 article I wrote, many of the best options in this age range are signed to the six clubs which already had licensing deals. Rubin Kazan, however, is the home club of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the 20 year old midfielder who already has double-digit caps for Georgia.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, M - Rubin Kazan (age 20)
This is Kvaratskhelia’s third season as a starter for Rubin Kazan, making 14 starts (27 appearances) in his 18 season and then 20 starts (23 apps) last year. In those two seasons he scored a combined seven goals with six assists, nicely stepping up his production over the two years to finish 2020-21 with four goals, four assists in 1,744’. That’s better than a 1/2 season worth of minutes in the 16-team league (1,440) and his move into the first-choice XI
The scores this year are impacted by his three DNPs and two substitute appearances, but in the games when he earns the start he has been solid. His back-to-back 35-18pt outings came on international duty, as did the 92 point score he posted illustrating the sizeable difference in potential outcomes but also highlighting that he scores points on international breaks. That is a nice feature for your U23 card and Kvaratskhelia is not losing his spot with Georgia any time soon. There is a chance he makes a run at both Levan Kobiashvili’s cap record (100) and maybe Shota Arveladze’s goals tally (26). That second one is a bit harder for a winger, but he’s a mortal lock to be inside the Top 10 goal scorers and could be there in just a year or two.
L $142.45 / 0.035 ETH | R $1,805.77 / 0.436 ETH
Fair Warning - Key Auctions Ending Soon
The MLS season is over except for five teams. Portland v Salt Lake are already in the West Conference finals while New England face NYCFC on 30 November in one of 48 scored matches for Week 223 and one of only eight matches in Champion America. As noted above, there are buying opportunities when players are out of season and MLSPA players will not resume league action until 26 February 2022. Just keep that in mind for the two MLSPA cards listed below.
Ezequiel Barco, M (age 22) - Rare 74/100 2021
I want to take Barco, but I also want to talk freeze bids and overpaying. Freeze bids are familiar to anyone who plays in fantasy auction drafts where you toss out an opening big or jump the bid significantly, to ‘freeze’ the auction and win the player. In Sorare we have a lot of pricing data available but the two points most managers seem to bid against are a) most recent sale price and b) lowest market price. I don’t like bidding on either of those numbers and I like paying over the low ask even more. Currently you can pick up Barco’s 2020 for as low as $1,041.40 / 0.24 ETH and his 2021 for $1,171.58 / 0.27 ETH. With a half-day remaining on the bidding (at time of writing) this card has already been bid up to .275 ETH. Should you buy Barco? I certainly think so - this is too much to spend.
He signed with the club in 2018 as a Young Designated Player, and his contract expires next December. After a year of “2021 will be the most important year of Barco’s career” articles, the Argentine midfielder responded with seven goals (5.1 xG) and six assists (4.7 xA), establishing career highs in both. His 23 starts and 2,136 were also career best marks and he should continue to be a leader in a resurgent Atlanta United side looking to capitalize on it’s first ever rebuild.
Andrew Farrell, D (age 29) - Super Rare 5/10 2021
A steady presence in New England’s back line for the past nine season, Andrew Farrell does still have at least one match remaining in his 2021 season (and his play against NYCFC will be a big factor in if the club progress in their quest for the MLS Cup).
Inked to a “multi-year extension” in the summer of 2020 (seriously, that was how they announced it, no years or end date), he has made 29+ starts in every season except the 2020 year which was heavily impacted by COVID.
Now his upside is not massive and he basically never scores goals, but Farrell is a very consistent performer and is a discount option at DEF who never sits; that has value if you’re playing in a Division where DNPs can kill your chances. The lifetime average for his Super Rare, as reported by SorareData, is 0.236 Ξ $527.
Faïz Selemani, F (age 28) - Rare 40/100 2021-22
Playing for KV Kortrijk (Jupiler Pro League), Selemani is also an international for the island nation of The Comoros which is part of CAF and which qualified for its first international tournament. That means Selemani could be called-up for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) when it runs from January 6, 2022. Drawn in Group C with Morocco, Ghana, and Gabon, their stay could be short. But that would still hand Selemani matches while other Juplier players are on break - matches end 27 December and do not resume until 14 January. Comoros has matches January 10, 14 and 18.
This has been Selemani’s best club season with seven goals and two assists including three penalty goals. Last season with Kortrijk he scored eight goals with six assists across 30 matches (23 starts) and his record is certainly good enough to make him a regular SO5 starter in Challenger and Global divisions.