SOCCER

FanDuel Women's World Cup Single-Game Helper: United States vs. Spain

Rose Lavelle continues to be a cheap way to get exposure to the United States. Which other players should you look to on this single-game slate?

The World Cup is here, and FanDuel is offering daily fantasy contests. FanDuel has altered its soccer format for the Women's World Cup for the multi-match offerings, and it's important to know how those changes impact things. The single-match slates, however, are the same format as usual.

This primer covers the single-game slate for the US-Sweden matchup, which starts at noon EST on Monday.

Per FanDuel Sportsbook, Spain is the toughest test yet for the United States. The US is just a -280 moneyline favorite, which implies win odds of 73.7%. Prior to this match, the -410 line for the Sweden game was the shortest odds for the US. While the Americans are still clear favorites in this fixture, the days of massively lopsided scorelines are likely coming to an end as the tourney weeds out the lesser teams.

Let's take a look at some players to target at various price points for this single-game slate.

Forwards/Midfielders

Alex Morgan ($16), Megan Rapinoe ($14) and Tobin Heath ($9), United States

Each member of the United States' front three has to be considered on any single-game slate involving the Americans.

Morgan is expected to play after coming off at the half with an injury against Sweden. As expected following Morgan's insane five-goal outing in her first match, she was wildly popular against Sweden (she was rested versus Chile), but she was very quiet in 45 minutes, failing to register a single FanDuel point. That should lower her ownership a tad for the Spain fixture, and Morgan -- aided by her role as penalty taker -- has massive upside every time she steps on the pitch, which puts her in play for the captain spot.

Heath was also widely owned for the Sweden matchup due to her friendly price tag, and she's up just $1 for this one. Heath was unlucky not to get a goal versus the Swedes as she put one in the back of the net from a tight angle, but it ultimately went down as an own goal due to a deflection. She totaled 14.2 FanDuel points in that match, creating a pair of chances. Heath should once again be popular thanks to her price, but putting her as your captain should be fairly contrarian since she doesn't have a goal yet this tourney.

Rapinoe flopped versus Sweden. After creating a whopping seven chances and totaling a goal with two assists in the drubbing of Thailand, Rapinoe created just one chance and amassed a mere 4.3 FanDuel points in the win against Sweden. But she should be heavily involved against Spain, and like Heath and Morgan do, she offers big-time upside in every match.

Jenni Hermoso, Spain ($12)

As we touched on in the intro, Spain presents the toughest test yet for the United States, and they might be the first team to score a goal on the US in this tourney. Per FanDuel Sportsbook, two of the five most likely scores (in regulation) involve Spain getting one goal, although the two most likely scorelines are clean-sheet wins -- 1-0 and 2-0 -- for the Americans.

Hermoso, who handles Spain's penalties, is a good bet to be involved in anything Spain does going forward. She's created 11 total chances over three matches, being credited with at least three chances created in each outing. She's got two goals -- Spain have just three total, all of which came against South Africa -- and seven shots on target. In eight matches in World Cup qualification, she paced the side in goals (seven) and assists (nine). She's Spain's best player and will need to produce the goods in attack if the Spanish are to pull an upset.

Samantha Mewis ($13) and Rose Lavelle ($12), United States

These two have been DFS deities in this World Cup.

Not only do they put up tons of points -- Mewis is averaging 50.95 FanDuel points per game while Lavelle is at 33.4 -- they are modestly priced. With the US likely to dominate possession once again, these two midfielders should be able to keep making runs into the box.

Mewis' average is skewed by her two-goal, two-assist display against Thailand, when everyone but your neighbor and Tobin Heath scored. But she also had an assist and five chances created versus Sweden on her way to 29.6 FanDuel points. Lavelle scored two goals and had 48.9 FanDuel points in the Thailand match, and she finished with 17.9 fantasy points in the Sweden game without getting a goal or assist -- racking up three chances created, two tackles and one shot on goal.

Virginia Torrecilla, Spain ($7)

Torrecilla has been a do-it-all weapon in midfield for Spain, showcasing defensive prowess as well as the ability to contribute in attack. She has 13 total tackles and four interceptions over the last two matches, which were games against China and Germany, solid opposition. Torrecilla should be very active defensively in this one as the US figure to see a lot of the ball. Going forward, she created two chances versus China and one against South Africa, getting an assist versus the latter. Torrecilla's floor makes her a worthy investment at this price, and if you're building a lineup under the assumption of a clean-sheet win for the US, she's the perfect Spanish player to target.

Defenders

Kelley O'Hara ($9) and Krystal Dunn ($7), United States

As said above, the two most likely scorelines, per oddsmakers, involve a US clean sheet. That's great for these two as they'll tally a five-point bonus if the Americans keep a clean sheet, and both US full-backs offer upside in attack, too. Neither was credited with creating a chance in the Sweden game, but against Thailand, O'Hara created two chances while Dunn created three. Dunn isn't known for her defensive mastery -- though her incredible athletic ability usually helps her cover -- so there's a chance she could get taken off late if the US are trying to see out a tight game, which would keep her from getting the clean-sheet bonus.

Irene Paredes ($6) and Mapi León ($5), Spain

Paredes and León were Spain's starting center-back tandem versus China, and they helped bottle up a solid Chinese side as Spain limited them to one total shot (which wasn't a shot on goal) in a 0-0 draw. Both have proven to be steady DFS options despite getting just one clean-sheet bonus, and they have high floors against the US. León has put up 10.2 and 10.4 FanDuel points in her last two matches, and Paredes has posted 11.7, 13.4 and 8.9 FanDuel points over her three starts.