{
  "competition": "fifa_world_cup_fantasy",
  "round": 8,
  "article": "defenders",
  "title": "Best defenders — Round 8",
  "generated_at": "2026-07-19T12:52:43.995807+00:00",
  "sims": 50000,
  "methodology": "Market odds (de-vigged) → Dixon-Coles scorelines → 50k Monte-Carlo simulations, scored on the official FIFA World Cup Fantasy points table.",
  "entries": [
    {
      "name": "Aymeric Laporte",
      "team": "Spain",
      "position": "DEF",
      "x_points": 3.28,
      "captain_ev": 6.55,
      "ceiling": 3.28,
      "ceiling_ratio": 1.0,
      "price": 5.5,
      "ownership_pct": 9.2,
      "value": 0.595,
      "kickoff": "2026-07-19T19:00:00+00:00",
      "rank": 1
    },
    {
      "name": "Cucurella",
      "team": "Spain",
      "position": "DEF",
      "x_points": 3.01,
      "captain_ev": 6.01,
      "ceiling": 3.01,
      "ceiling_ratio": 1.0,
      "price": 5.1,
      "ownership_pct": 27,
      "value": 0.589,
      "kickoff": "2026-07-19T19:00:00+00:00",
      "rank": 2
    },
    {
      "name": "Pau Cubarsi",
      "team": "Spain",
      "position": "DEF",
      "x_points": 2.92,
      "captain_ev": 5.84,
      "ceiling": 2.92,
      "ceiling_ratio": 1.0,
      "price": 5,
      "ownership_pct": 6.1,
      "value": 0.584,
      "kickoff": "2026-07-19T19:00:00+00:00",
      "rank": 3
    },
    {
      "name": "M. Llorente",
      "team": "Spain",
      "position": "DEF",
      "x_points": 2.77,
      "captain_ev": 5.55,
      "ceiling": 2.77,
      "ceiling_ratio": 1.0,
      "price": 5.5,
      "ownership_pct": 4.5,
      "value": 0.505,
      "kickoff": "2026-07-19T19:00:00+00:00",
      "rank": 4
    },
    {
      "name": "Dayot Upamecano",
      "team": "France",
      "position": "DEF",
      "x_points": 2.71,
      "captain_ev": 5.42,
      "ceiling": 2.71,
      "ceiling_ratio": 1.0,
      "price": 5.3,
      "ownership_pct": 4.9,
      "value": 0.512,
      "kickoff": "2026-07-18T21:00:00+00:00",
      "rank": 5
    },
    {
      "name": "Ezri Konsa",
      "team": "England",
      "position": "DEF",
      "x_points": 2.61,
      "captain_ev": 5.22,
      "ceiling": 2.61,
      "ceiling_ratio": 1.0,
      "price": 4.8,
      "ownership_pct": 3,
      "value": 0.543,
      "kickoff": "2026-07-18T21:00:00+00:00",
      "rank": 6
    },
    {
      "name": "Jules Kounde",
      "team": "France",
      "position": "DEF",
      "x_points": 2.55,
      "captain_ev": 5.1,
      "ceiling": 2.55,
      "ceiling_ratio": 1.0,
      "price": 5.4,
      "ownership_pct": 6.3,
      "value": 0.472,
      "kickoff": "2026-07-18T21:00:00+00:00",
      "rank": 7
    },
    {
      "name": "William Saliba",
      "team": "France",
      "position": "DEF",
      "x_points": 2.49,
      "captain_ev": 4.98,
      "ceiling": 2.49,
      "ceiling_ratio": 1.0,
      "price": 5.3,
      "ownership_pct": 13,
      "value": 0.47,
      "kickoff": "2026-07-18T21:00:00+00:00",
      "rank": 8
    },
    {
      "name": "Nico O'Reilly",
      "team": "England",
      "position": "DEF",
      "x_points": 2.44,
      "captain_ev": 4.88,
      "ceiling": 2.44,
      "ceiling_ratio": 1.0,
      "price": 4.7,
      "ownership_pct": 10.8,
      "value": 0.519,
      "kickoff": "2026-07-18T21:00:00+00:00",
      "rank": 9
    },
    {
      "name": "Marc Guehi",
      "team": "England",
      "position": "DEF",
      "x_points": 2.42,
      "captain_ev": 4.85,
      "ceiling": 2.42,
      "ceiling_ratio": 1.0,
      "price": 5.1,
      "ownership_pct": 6.2,
      "value": 0.475,
      "kickoff": "2026-07-18T21:00:00+00:00",
      "rank": 10
    },
    {
      "name": "Lisandro Martinez",
      "team": "Argentina",
      "position": "DEF",
      "x_points": 2.23,
      "captain_ev": 4.46,
      "ceiling": 2.23,
      "ceiling_ratio": 1.0,
      "price": 4.6,
      "ownership_pct": 7,
      "value": 0.484,
      "kickoff": "2026-07-19T19:00:00+00:00",
      "rank": 11
    },
    {
      "name": "Cristian Romero",
      "team": "Argentina",
      "position": "DEF",
      "x_points": 2.19,
      "captain_ev": 4.39,
      "ceiling": 2.19,
      "ceiling_ratio": 1.0,
      "price": 4.9,
      "ownership_pct": 5.8,
      "value": 0.448,
      "kickoff": "2026-07-19T19:00:00+00:00",
      "rank": 12
    },
    {
      "name": "Facundo Medina",
      "team": "Argentina",
      "position": "DEF",
      "x_points": 2.13,
      "captain_ev": 4.27,
      "ceiling": 2.13,
      "ceiling_ratio": 1.0,
      "price": 4,
      "ownership_pct": 9.4,
      "value": 0.533,
      "kickoff": "2026-07-19T19:00:00+00:00",
      "rank": 13
    },
    {
      "name": "V. Livramento",
      "team": "England",
      "position": "DEF",
      "x_points": 2.12,
      "captain_ev": 4.24,
      "ceiling": 2.12,
      "ceiling_ratio": 1.0,
      "price": 4.6,
      "ownership_pct": 0.1,
      "value": 0.461,
      "kickoff": "2026-07-18T21:00:00+00:00",
      "rank": 14
    },
    {
      "name": "Djed Spence",
      "team": "England",
      "position": "DEF",
      "x_points": 2.06,
      "captain_ev": 4.13,
      "ceiling": 2.06,
      "ceiling_ratio": 1.0,
      "price": 4.5,
      "ownership_pct": 0.5,
      "value": 0.459,
      "kickoff": "2026-07-18T21:00:00+00:00",
      "rank": 15
    }
  ],
  "source": "https://evmax.ai",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "license_text": "CC BY 4.0 — free to reuse with attribution to evmax (https://evmax.ai)"
}