Hopefully you were able to transfer some of your World Cup players back in over the last couple of rounds in order to prepare for their return, but if not, don’t worry! This is a good week to take the 5 (or even 10) point penalty for an extra transfer or two, and you can always bring in additional players next week.
It also depends on how much budget you have available. If you brought in some lower-cost players during the break, you likely have enough money to immediately bring back the premium price players: Sophia Smith, Alex Morgan, Savannah DeMelo, Debhina, Sofia Huerta and the like. Of the high-price World Cup players ($300k and above), I would prioritize Smith and Crystal Dunn. There’s nothing to suggest Smith won’t return to her pre-World Cup form, and the inconsistency across FNWSL at the midfield position magnifies Dunn’s value to your team.
If you don’t have as much budget flexibility and need to focus on some lower-cost WWC returnees first, there are still plenty of great options. Lynn Williams ($200k) should be the first priority in this group. Adriana (known by her full name of Adriana Leal da Silva in FNWSL) is a rising star in Orlando, and with a cost of only $125k, is an ideal third FW to pair with some combination of Smith/Williams/Weaver/one of Washington’s Big Three.
Don’t worry as much about DF and GK, as the gap in fantasy value between World Cup and non-World Cup players at these positions is much lower than at MF and FW. We’ll take a look at those players in this week’s third question.