International Tournaments in January & February 2015
Some of you will have read the header and thought Tournaments! There’s only the African Cup of Nations to contend with…. wrong answer boys and girls! There is also the AFC Asian Cup in Australia to deal with. It could mean that some Premier League players will be unavailable for 3-4 gameweeks. With FIFA regulations stating that “For a final competition players must be released and start to travel to their national team no later than the Monday morning of the week preceding that of the start of the relevant final competition, and must be released by their association the morning of the day after their last match of the tournament” this could have a huge impact on Fantasy Manager’s January Wildcards.
Now I bet some of you still think that these tournaments will not have an effect on your Fantasy sides, well to name but a few players, if you have the like of; Bony, Yaya Toure, Cisse, Sakho, Jedinak and Yoshida then you will be affected.
Let’s start off with the African Cup of Nations or ACON:
The African Cup of Nations is the international football championships for the African Football Confederation, (CAF) and will be taking place in Equatorial Guinea. ACON will take place between 17 January to 8 February 2015. Players can start reporting to their National Associations from the 5th January.
At present the 30 man squads are only available; this will be reduced down to 23 at a date to be confirmed. At present there are 20 Premier League players going to ACON. Here is the initial list of players by club, who could be going to the Tournament:
Crystal Palace- Adlene Guediora (Algeria), Yannick Bolasie (DR Congo)
Everton- Christian Atsu (Ghana)
Hull- Mohamed Diame (Senegal)
Leicester- Riyad Mahrez (Algeria), Jeff Schlupp (Ghana)
Liverpool- Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast)
Man City- Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast)
Newcastle- Mehdi Abeid (Algeria), Papiss Cisse (Senegal), Cheick Tiote (Ivory Coast)
Southampton- Emmanuel Mayuka (Zambia), Sadio Mane (Senegal)
Stoke- Mame Biram Diouf (Senegal)
Swansea- Wilfried Bony (Ivory Coast)
Tottenham- Nabil Bentaleb (Algeria)
West Ham- Alex Song (Cameroon), Cheikhou Kouyate (Senegal), Diafra Sakho (Senegal)
West Bromwich- Youssouf Mulumbu (DR Congo)
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Next up is the lesser known Tournament known as the AFC Asian Cup:
The AFC Asian Cup is the international football championships for the Asian Football Confederation. (AFC) The winner will qualify for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. The Cup is taking place in Australia and will take place between the 9 January to the 31 January 2015. Players can start reporting to their National Associations from the 29th December.
Like ACON at present only the 30 man squads are only available. There are 7 Premier League players selected in preliminary squads for the Asian Cup. This Cup competition will impact Fantasy Premier League teams during Gameweeks 21-23. The initial list is:
Aston Villa- Chris Herd (Australia)
Crystal Palace- Mile Jedinak (Australia)
Liverpool- Brad Jones (Australia)
QPR- Yun Suk Young (QPR)
Southampton- Maya Yoshida (Japan)
Swansea- Ki Sung Yueng (Korean Republic)
West Brom- Jason Davidson (Australia)
It remains to be seen when players involved in this Tournament will be called up by their Associations. I would suggest to all you Fantasy Managers to keep a close eye on the squads and don’t get caught with you pants down! West Ham look like they could be effected the most by these tournaments losing Alex Song, Cheikhou Kouyate and Diafra Sakho. Some of the players involved are popular with many a Fantasy Manager, Wilfried Bony, Mile Jedinak and Yaya Toure being the main protagonists.
Plan your transfers carefully and remember the January Wildcard can only be used after Gameweek 20 starts until Gameweek 23 ends.
Sanchez or di Maria please guys
I know the later isn’t back yet but he may feature in the fa cup
Thinking of manu fixtures
dc, I would wait until ADM is back and fit before even considering him. Until that point, Sanchez.
Thanks cookie
Morning, just been confirmed Stevie to leave Liverpool at the end of the season, doesn’t say where he is going though.
prob to try and win a league somewhere Elle!! Morning!
Morning Cookster, very true that statement, theres talk of a bid made for Bayerns Shaqri. Hope you enjoyed the festivities mate down there in Moneyco, all quiet here, wife at the hossy every day, me in with Harry.
all good thanks Ellie. Wasn’t a big NYE, but fun. Managed to upset the mrs somehow!!
Is there any money left for the Scousers to spend?
Yip, as far as i know. I think it will be a couple of big signings.
Is this for the January Transfer window because I thought Rodgers said he wasn’t going to buy anyone this January??
Like Lambert and Balotelli?
Haha sure their our biggest signing Cook. Goals Galore!!
Crouch, hes big. :big-lol:
Crouch and Heskey perfect. The owners must be very wary of Rodgers spending more of their money.
Morning elle. Gutted to hear this news but it was going to happen sooner or later. It’s rumored to be between LA Galaxy and the two New York clubs.
Matt, if its a NY club, that means hes off to Citeh then.
Possibly but I really hope not. He probably wants to link back up with Lampard.
Present squad ?
Wc squad?
Wc
Think I’ll hold on for the return of kun
Very tempting tho ????thanks guys
If you have only taken a 20 point hit to make the best team you can I would wait. Seen people taking 40+ in provisional WC squads..
DC – why do u want to wc this week? I plan to today but feel my squad is in worst place.
Agree with Dreamers dc. Wouldn’t even consider WC with that team.
If you could take any midfielder (exc. Hazard, Sanchez and Silva) and any forward, who would you take in for the next two fixtures only (will WC after GW22 so long term isn’t a problem)?
Need to replace Yaya and Bony unfortunately.
I’m in the same boat mate and I was thinking Silva and Kane. What do you think of them??
Yes mate. Already have the pair of them (benched Kane yesterday though :().
I was thinking Fabregas as the midfielder..Or Mata/Lallana/Sterling
Oh gutted for you mate. I already have Fabregas and Sterling so I’m not sure which one to recommend probably lean more towards Fabregas because Chelsea are more consistent ( ignoring yesterday though)
Not bad fixtures before the time I would wildcard either. Hmm..news on ADM? If he is back he may be worth a two week punt.
I haven’t heard anything on ADM but I think he’s still not match fit yet. We should know more after the FA Cup matches.
Okay, cheers Matt.
No problem AT
Never doubting Pantsu ever again. I’ll play him always. Freaking 4 points versus City after conceding 3. >.<
Selling Value of my team will be 103.9m tomorrow. That’s really kind of decent. :dance:
Played Heaton over him.
But will probably do the same again given their respective fixtures.
Mannone will be my second goalie. Having 2 playing goalies with H/A fixtures never freaking worked out for me. NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Falcao and chadli/mata AT?
Not convinced with Falcao yet dc. Subbed off/on constantly and his goal hardly makes me see quality
Jovetic/adm (gamble)
Was thinking that exact combination aha. Someone said something about Dzeko being back training though.
City will opt for 2 up top no? Milner to sit it out..dzeko won’t start surely will he?