An exciting and dramatic opening weekend of the AFCON has ended, and gameweek 2 of AFCON Fantasy offers a quick turnaround with a deadline in just a few hours. AFCON Robbie discusses his top differential players in each position for this article.
With gameweek 2 just around the corner, I would like to give you my top recommended player per position for those of you who will use the wildcard chip in GW 2. These players I’ve selected are not spectacularly big names with an expensive price tag but have an ownership of 10% or below, so I hope it can help you gain ranks on a budget too.
Goalkeeper Pick
Maduka Emilio Okoye
🦅 Country: Nigeria
💰 Price: €5.0M
🚀 Ownership: 3%
🔄 Last gameweek: 7 points
Okoye is Nigeria’s #1 goalkeeper and currently plays in the Netherlands for his old club Sparta Rotterdam, on loan from Premier League club, Watford. The German-born player has played 14 times for the Super Eagles since his debut in 2019. He had two saves and a clean sheet to give him seven points in the first match at AFCON 2021 against Egypt. Nigeria will now face Sudan in GW2 (FIFA rank: 125) and Guinea-Bissau in GW3 (FIFA rank: 106), making Okoye an excellent (and cheaper) option for the rest of the group stage.
AFCON Fantasy Defender Pick
Abdou Diallo
🦁 Country: Senegal
💰 Price: €5.0M
🚀 Ownership: 8%
🔄 Last gameweek: 7 points
The 25-year-old French-born defender currently plays for Ligue 1 club, Paris Saint-Germain. Since his debut for the Senegal national team in March 2021, Diallo has started every game for them whenever available. He is the preferred center-back partner of Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly, who missed the 1-0 win against Zimbabwe in the first match. Senegal will face Guinea (FIFA rank: 81) and Malawi (FIFA rank: 129) next in the group stage, making a defender from the team almost a must-have.
AFCON Fantasy Midfielder Pick
Wahbi Khazri
🦅 Country: Tunisia
💰 Price: €8.0M
🚀 Ownership: 10%
🔄 Last gameweek: 2 points
Khazri currently plays for Ligue 1 club St. Etienne where he has scored seven times in 19 games this season. He was the captain of the Tunisian side that came fourth at AFCON 2019 in Egypt and has scored 22 times in 66 games for his country, putting him second on the list of all-time goalscorers for the North African nation. Despite missing a crucial penalty in the controversial first match versus Mali yesterday, the Tunisian captain, priced at €8.0M, is still very much recommended to have in your wildcard team. Tunisia will face Mauritania (FIFA rank: 103) in GW2 and Gambia (FIFA rank: 150) in GW3, making Tunisian attackers a tempting option.
AFCON Fantasy Forward Pick
Ibrahima Koné
🦅 Country: Mali
💰 Price: €6.1M
🚀 Ownership: 9%
🔄 Last gameweek: 7 points
22-years-old Koné currently plays for Norwegian club, Sarpsborg 08 where he had 11 goals and three assists in 28 games this season. The striker has scored seven times in nine games for the Mali national team, including five goals and one assist in the World Cup Qualifiers last year, and the winning goal in the first match of AFCON 2021 for Mali against Tunisia. He is also the team’s main penalty taker, as proven when he took the penalty against Tunisia. Mali will face Gambia (FIFA rank: 150) in GW2 and Mauritania (FIFA rank: 103) in GW3, and Koné is a great differential on a budget if you want to capitalize on those fixtures.
That brings us to the end of this article. Don’t forget to join my little AFCON Fantasy mini-league with this token – d630cad3.
You can find additional AFCON 2021 Fantasy resources here.
