AFC Asia Cup Fantasy, Fantasy Football, FEATURED

AFC Asia Cup Fantasy Guide (Best Picks + Booster Strategy)

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AFC Asian Cup Fantasy 2023 is about to begin and FPL Karhumies shares his picks on the best player picks including budget picks and booster strategy to help you get started.

AFC Asian Cup Introduction

The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men’s national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest continental football championship in the world after Copa América. The winning team becomes the champion of Asia and until 2015 qualified for the FIFA Confederations Cup. Since the Summer Olympic Games and the European Football Championship were also scheduled in the same year as the Asian Cup, the AFC decided to move their championship to a less crowded cycle. After 2004, the tournament was next held in 2007, when it was co-hosted by four countries in Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Thereafter, it has been held every four years.

The Asian Cup has generally been dominated by a small number of top teams. Initially, successful teams included South Korea (twice) and Iran (three times). Since 1984, Japan (four times) and Saudi Arabia (three times) have been the most successful teams, together winning seven of the last ten finals. The other teams that have achieved success are Qatar (2019 current champions), Australia (2015), Iraq (2007) and Kuwait (1980). Israel won in 1964 but was later expelled and has since joined UEFA.

Australia joined the Asian Confederation in 2007 and hosted the Asian Cup finals in 2015, winning the competition in the final against South Korea. The 2019 tournament was expanded from 16 teams to 24 teams, with the qualifying process doubling as part of the qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The hosts Qatar, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Iran they are all seem strong while it can be added that Uzbekistan is one to watch out for. Anyways below are my player picks.

AFC Asia Cup Fantasy Budget Picks

 

Goalkeepers
  • 4M – Filip Nguyen (Vietnam)
  • 4.5M – Nawaf Al Aqidi (Saudi Arabia), Joe Gouci (Australia, if Ryan is out), and Ernando Ari (Indonesia)
  • 5.0M – Zion Suzuki (Japan)

 

Defenders
  • 4.0M – None
  • 4.5M – Lucas Mendes (Qatar), Cameron Burgess (Australia, Bos, Miller & Jones rotate), Rustamjon Ashurmatov (Uzbekistan), Lee Ki-je (South Korea, OOP mid), Awn Al Saluli and Hassan Tambakti (Saudi Arabia), Kholmurod Nazarov (Tajikistan), Vas Nunez (Hong Kong), Hussein Ali Haider (Iraq), Mohamed Adel (Bahrain), and Aizar Akmatov (Kyrgyz Republic)

 

Midfielders – Reverse OOP
  • 4.5M – Merchas Doski (Iraq, left-back), Camilo Saldana (Palestine, left-back), and Yue Tze Nam (Hong Kong, right-back)
  • 5M – Mus’ab Al Battat (Palestine, right-back)
  • 5.5M – Zayed Sultan (UAE, right-back)

 

Forwards – Reverse OOP
  • 4.5M – Hazaa Ali (Bahrain, center-back/right-back)

 

AFC Asia Cup Fantasy Mid-range Midfield Picks

  • 6.0M – Faisal Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia), and Endo/Morita (Japan, defensive midfielders with heavy rotation risk)
  • 6.5M – Connor Metcalfe (Australia), Ali Jasim (Iraq), Abbosbek Fayzullaev (Uzbekistan), and Liu Binbin (China)
  • 7.0M – Mostafa Meshaal (Qatar)
  • 7.5M – Oston O’runov and Otabek Shukurov (Uzbekistan)

 

AFC Asia Cup Fantasy Premium Midfield Picks

  • 8.5M – Kang-In Lee (South Korea) and Ibraheem Bayesh (Iraq)
  • 9.0M – Takumi Minamino (Japan) and Salem Al Dawsari (Saudi Arabia)

 

AFC Asia Cup Fantasy Premium Midfield Picks

  • 5.5M – Homam Ahmed (Qatar), Saud Abdulhamid (Saudi Arabia), and Ehsan Hajisafi (Iran, rotation risk)
  • 6.0M – Ramin Rezaein (Iran)
  • 6.5M – Harry Souttar (Australia, good but very expensive)

 

AFC Asia Cup Fantasy Mid-range and Premium Forward Picks

 

  • MD1-3 – Cho Gue-Sung/South Korea/9.5M
  • MD1-2 – Jalolidin Masharipov/Uzbekistan/8.5M, Igor Sergeyev/Uzbekistan/9M, and Mitch Duke/Australia/10.5M

 

AFC Asia Cup Fantasy Matchday 1 Differential Picks

  • 7.0M – Joel Kojo (Kyrgyz Republic) vs Thailand
  • 7.5M – Daizen Maeda (Japan) vs Vietnam and Mousa Tamari (Jordan) vs Malaysia
  • 8.0M – Keito Nakamura and Ayase Ueda (Japan) vs Vietnam
  • 8.5M – Takuma Asano and Junya Ito (Japan) vs Vietnam and Jzan Al Naimat (Jordan) vs Malaysia

Matchday 2-3 – Saleh Al Shehri/Saudi Arabia/9.5M

 

Possible Captain rotation for MD1-3:

  • C1: 🇶🇦
  • C2: 🇦🇺or🇺🇿
  • C3: 🇯🇵
  • C4: 🇰🇷
  • C5: 🇸🇦

MD1 and MD2 – 🇮🇷 v 🇯🇵 for C3

MD3 – 🇮🇷 v 🇦🇺 v 🇺🇿 for C2

MD3 – 🇰🇷 v 🇸🇦 for C4

MD3 – No C5 at all

Asian Cup Fantasy Premium, “Sub-premium” and Team Composition

  • Premium = 10.5-12.5M
  • “Sub-premium” = 8.5-10.0M

Premium list length is similar to AFCON (6 FWD + 1 MID). But since Mitoma 10.5M is injured, there are no premium mids in the game. I repeat: all premiums are forwards!

With manual sub-rule + a terrible cheap mid pool, especially compared to AFCON Fantasy = we will struggle to get three premiums into the team. So we’ll pick two players out of the premium forwards list for captaincy. Group stage transfers will probably focus on rotating premium forwards.

Sub-premium forwards: I count 35x 8.5-10.0M forwards. We are going to ignore almost all of them because the forwards slots are so valuable to use for the premiums forwards. The third forward slot is open for grabs. Some of these are wingers who should be midfielders in my opinion.

 

Some third forward options:

  • Saleh Al Shehri/Saudi Arabia/9.5M
  • Hee-Chan Hwang/South Korea/10M
  • Cho Gue-Sung/South Korea/9.5M
  • Junya Ito/Japan/8.5M
  • Ayase Ueda/Japan/8M vs. Daizen Maeda/Japan/7.5M

If Son plays as a winger, whoever plays as CF for Korea is a good pick)Whoever is JPN CF will cook MD1. But is it Ueda or Maeda? J.Ito = winger but higher xMins. There is budget pressure to pick a cheap-ish 3rd fwd (if such a thing exists in Asian Cup Fantasy), as in 8M or below, to afford upgrades in mid & defense. Preferably a player on penalties facing poor defenses in the group stage. So it’s “talisman” versus JPN punt 3rd fwd IMO.

 

AFC Asia Cup Fantasy Sub-premium Midfield Picks

 

There are a few, but nowhere as many as forwards. So even in the subpremium category, the mid pool has been robbed into forwards.

  • Salem Al Dawsari/Saudi Arabia/9M is heavily picked. Best C5 choice?
  • Kang-In Lee/South Korea/8.5M plays for a good team and is nailed.
  • Takumi Minamino/Japan/9M is great if he starts.

Once we’ve picked three very expensive forwards (probably 2xpremium + 1x”sub-premium”) and one “sub-premium” mid, we will struggle to fill the other four midfield slots with any decent players. We will probably have 1-2x 4.5M fodder mids on the bench just to afford 2-3x 6.5-7.5M mids.

The game’s scoring and mid-pricing both encourage picking premium defenders over “sub-premium” mids. No MVP or bonus points, mids only get 1p for CS while defenders get 4p. So for a 4.5M mid, we are looking for reverse OOP LB/RB who could get +1 CS point. 5.0-5.5 mids are just as bad.

 

For reference:

 

AFCON

  • 6x premium: 2x fwd + 4x mid
  • 10x sub-premium: 4x fwd + 6x mid

No manual subs so a cheap bench is okay.

 

AFC Fantasy

  • 7x premium: 6x fwd + 1x mid (injured)
  • 51x sub-premium: 35x fwd + 16x mid

Manual subs so we would like an expensive bench if possible.

AFC Asia Cup Fantasy Booster Strategy

 

We have two boosters available – Triple Captain and Bench Boost.

BB: Our bench is going to be full of 4.5M mid-fodder in the group stage due to high mid-player pricing. Therefore, using BB in the top 16 after we get a +5M team budget seems optimal to me.

TC: We want to use this in the group stage. MD3 is not optimal because good teams that are qualified for playoffs can rotate their players to avoid injury. So either MD1 or MD2.

As far as I understand, rotating captaincy works as usual when the TC chip is active. So we want at least three good C options for the TC chip in MD1/MD2. Preferably even 4-5 options.

  • Day 1: 🇶🇦Almoez Ali – MD2 v🇹🇯 better than MD1 v🇱🇧
  • Day 2: 🇺🇿/🇦🇺 – they play 🇮🇳/🇸🇾 MD1/MD2 = even
  • Day 3: 🇮🇷Taremi, 🇯🇵, 🇦🇪Mabkhout all same day
  • Day 4: 🇰🇷 MD1 v 🇧🇭 & MD2 v 🇯🇴 both favorable
  • Day 5: 🇸🇦 Salem/Al-Shawri – MD2 v🇰🇬 better than MD1 v🇴🇲

-> TC2 preferred if you have players from Bahrain or Saudi Arabia.

 

Ali Mabkhout (UAE) has a better fixture MD1 vs Hong Kong than MD2 vs Lebanon. Japan also have a better fixture on MD1 vs Vietnam than MD2 vs Iraq. so C3 in MD2 could be Mehdi Taremi (Iran).

Even though TC2 in MD2 seems slightly better based on Qatar and Saudi fixtures overall, if you think that JPN will absolutely cook Vietnam in MD1, TC1 can still score more than TC2 if you pick the right Japan player for captaincy.

 

The Shortlist of Best Players for TC1/TC2

 

Day 1

🥇🇶🇦12.0 FWD Ali Almoez

🥈🇶🇦5.5 DEF Homam

🥉🇶🇦11.0 FWD Afif

 

Day 2

🥇🇺🇿starting forward

🥈🇦🇺10.0 FWD Duke

🥉🇦🇺6.5 DEF Souttar

 

Day 3

🥇Any 🇯🇵 mid/fwd

🥈🇮🇷11.5 FWD Taremi

🥉🇮🇷6.0 DEF Rezaeian

 

The Shortlist of Best Players for TC1/TC2

 

Day 4

🥇🇰🇷12.0 FWD Son

🥈🇰🇷9.5 FWD Cho

🥉MD1: 🇯🇴8.5FWD Yazan Al Naimat & 🇯🇴7.5FWD Tamari v 🇲🇾

Honourable mention: 🇰🇷4.5 DEF Lee Ki-Je

 

Day 5

🥇MD2: 🇸🇦9.5FWD Al Shekri v 🇰🇬

🥈MD1: 🇰🇬7.0 FWD Kojo v 🇹🇭

🥉MD2: 🇸🇦5.5 DEF Abdulhamid v 🇰🇬

Honourable mention: 🇸🇦9.0 MID Salem

 

Thanks to all of you for reading. Best wishes to all of you who are playing Asia Cup Fantasy – @karhumies.

You can find additional AFC Asian Cup Fantasy resources for the 23/24 season here.

Bundesliga Fantasy, Fantasy Football, FEATURED

Bundesliga Fantasy: Unlimited Transfers Guide [+Drafts]

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Bundesliga Fantasy is back and Tipster Andres Garcia shares his thoughts on the players worth considering in his latest article including his own drafts.

Happy New Year to everybody! I hope you had a great holiday season and that this year you will be able to achieve all your goals. And if between these goals, there’s to win your Bundesliga Fantasy League, you’re in the right place. I will try to help and advise you with a bunch of players, strategies, and performance trends, so you can dominate your league in this second half of the season. With nothing more to add, let’s begin! Let’s start with the advice on players to buy:



Buy the “Must Own” Players

The unlimited transfer window is the clear opportunity to go grab those players who were balling all year, but in any case, they aren’t in your team. I’m talking about players like:

  • Harry Kane (FWD / FCB / 19.4M / 84%)
  • Florian Wirtz (MID / B04 / 18M / 69%)
  • Alejandro Grimaldo (DEF / B04 / 14.4M / 78%)
  • Xavi Simons (MID / RBL / 17.3M / 66%)
  • Leroy Sané (FWD / FCB / 18.6M / 36%)
  • Kevin Stöger (MID / BOC / 10.9M / 17%)

These players aren’t matchup-dependent players, so I think they have to be the cornerstone of every team. I’ll give you a Draft with all these players and other studs.

AFCON/Asia Cup or Injured Stars Replacements

To build around these players you can complete your team with short/medium-term players. In this case, we are going to talk about some players who’ll be starters and have a very good opportunity to shine thanks to the unavailability of some stars, like:

  • Patrick Schick (FWD / B04 / 11.3M / 6%) – replacement of Boniface
  • Deniz Undav (FWD / VFB / 10.7M / 10%) – replacement of Guirassy
  • Sasa Kalajdzic (or Kalimuendo/Etitiké if they arrive) – replacement of Marmoush

These three players are among the top eight forwards for the next month, and their price is affordable for any team to accompany Kane and Sané. I like Undav much more in the long term because of the probable exit of Serhou Guirassy from Stuttgart. I’ll give you a Draft with two of these players so you can compete.

Great Team Schedule (from GW17 to GW 24-25)

We all know that some players depend on the matchup to produce a good amount of points, so it is a good strategy to follow the teams with a good run of matches. Then, following the short/medium-term options to complete your team, we are gonna propose to you some teams with a good schedule for the next game weeks, so you can target some differential players between the period of the GW17 to GW24-25.

Fantasy Bundesliga Teams to Target:

  • BVB Players (Kobel, Bynoe-Gittens, Füllkrug, Maatsen?, Sancho?)
  • FCU Player (Volland, Hollerbach, Juranovic)
  • SGE players [from GW18] (Pacho, Tuta, Nkounkou)
  • TSG players (Skov, Bauman, Prömel)
  • VFB players (Mittelstädt, Führich, the right-wing between Millot and Leweling)

Among these options, I would prioritize Hollerbach (cheap and averages 9.66pts since he’s a starter), Pacho (averaged 6.43pts against the same rivals he has between GW18-24), Mittelstädt and Sancho if he finally arrives at the BVB. I will give you a Draft with many of these players so you can rotate between them during the next matchups.


Cheap, Starters, and Effective Players

To finish your team, if you need very cheap players so you can afford a large number of expensive studs, I recommend these safe floors and high-upside players:

  • Patrick Mainka (DEF / HDH / 4M / 17%)
  • Brajan Gruda (MID / M05 / 1.8M [SALE] / 7%)
  • Merlin Röhl (MID / SCF / 3.1M / 5%)
  • Jordy Makengo (DEF / SCF / 2.2M [SALE] / 4%)
  • Eren Dinkçi (FWD / HDH / 5.3M / 2%)
  • Aleksandar Pavlovic (MID / FCB / 1.4M / 5%)

All these players are starters on their teams and lately, they’re producing a good quantity of points. Buy them before their price increases.
I’ll give you some drafts with these players, so you can see various combinations you can make with these types of players in your team:


Now we go with the sell/don’t buy options:


AFCON/Asian Cup and Injured Players

These sales are obvious, but sometimes the app has bugs or doesn’t update the status of the players early, so I bring you a list of players that will be absent for a while:

  • Serhou Guirassy (VFB/ FWD/ 15M/30%) AFCON and probable exit of the league.
  • AFCON Cup: Omar Marmoush ; Haller ; Kossounou ; Naby Keïta ; Tapsoba ; Bensebaini ; Chaïbi ; Laïdouni , Skhiri ; Mazraoui ; Adli ; Silas Mvupa ; Haidara ; Samassekou.
  • Injuries: Victor Boniface ; Gnabry ; Ryerson ; Cvancara ; Philipp Max ; Geiger ; Kyereh ; Gosens ; Fofana (will be called back from Chelsea)
  • Asia Cup: Min Jae ; Ko itakura ; Ito ; Takuma Asano ; Ritsu Doan ; JaeSung Lee ; WooYeong Jeong.

Declining Schedule/Tendencies

Jonas Hofmann (B04/ MID/ 18.2M/ 35%). Even when Wirtz is out, he hasn’t produced 10+pts since GW11. Leverkusen’s offense depends more on Wirtz and the wing-backs than on him. And his high price makes him a droppable option. I would rather have Brandt, Stöger, or even Olmo when he returns from his injury.

FCB/VFB defenders: Except for Davies and Mittelstadt who have attacking upside, I would sell or not buy any defender of this team. Bayern has conceded eight goals in their last five matches. Then, on the Stuttgart side, their schedule is nice for the attacking options, but they face really good offenses and Ito (a very important player) is out.

RBL Defenders: Their schedule is very tough and they have been conceding a lot of goals in the last matches (7 in the last 5 matches). I’ll keep one between Raum/Hendrichs just because of their attacking upside.

Wolfsburg, Augsburg, and Gladbach players: Bad schedule and they’re one of the eight worst teams in the last five matches. I would especially sell Reitz.

Tim Skarke (The only useful SV Darmstadt player): Bad team, bad schedule, and I don’t see how he can keep his production.



Thank you for reading. I hope these tips can help you to build your Fantasy squad.

You can find additional Bundesliga Fantasy resources for the 23/24 season here.

AFCON Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football, FEATURED

AFCON Fantasy Preview – DR Congo

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AFCON Fantasy is here and the FPL Manual shares his thoughts on DR Congo’s national football team, their best players to consider, and the predicted XI for the Africa Cup of Nations 2024.

Team Profile

  • Name – Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Nickname – Les Léopards (The Leopards)
  • Current World ranking – 67th (13th in Africa)

DR Congo have won the AFCON title twice in 1968 and 1974, coming in third place on two occasions in 1998 and 2015

 

DR Congo’s Road to AFCON

On the 9th of September 2023, DR Congo continued to write history as they secured their ticket to Cote D’Ivoire. This time will make it their 19th AFCON appearance, the Leopards finished top of Group I with 12 points scoring 11 goals, conceding only four goals.

 

DR Congo’s Top AFCON Qualifier Performers

Top scorers

  • F Mayele – 2 goals
  • J Bolingi, G Kakuta, C Bakambu, A Masuaku, C Bakambu, A Tshibola, T Bongonda – 1 goal each

DR Congo’s Team News

Official list of DR Congo players travelling to Cote D’Ivoire :

DR Congo Injury Updates

Batubinsika❓

“Despite his two yellow cards suffered during the last qualifying matches” “Dylan Batubinsika is eligible to play the first match.”

Key defender Dylan Batubinsika is currently marked as suspended in the RealFevr fantasy game.

 

DR Congo Probable Lineup AFCON 2024

The manager – Sébastien Desabre uses either a 3-4-3 and recently adopted a 4-2-3-1 shape, however, it’s the 4-4-2 formation that helped DR Congo to secure qualification. The Leopards could line up this way ahead of the tournament.

Best DR Congo AFCON Fantasy Player Picks

 

Nailed Players

Mbemba 5m, Bakambu 7.5m

 

Fairly nailed: (play 70+mins or 2/3 group games)

Y Wissa 7.5m, Meschack Elia 5m

 

Rotation Risk

F Maleye 4.5m, G Diagana 5.5m

 

DR Congo do not get a lot of penalties but Theo Bongonda (6m) was the most recent pen taker.

 

Summary

After missing out on the last AFCON contest, the Leopards are back and back stronger than ever. Starting matchday 1 against Group F rivals Zambia, perhaps I might only recommend Theo Bongonda for now as he appears to be on penalty duty. The others are a wait-and-see.

You can find additional AFCON 2024 Fantasy resources here.

AFCON Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football, FEATURED

AFCON Fantasy Preview – Morocco

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AFCON Fantasy is here and the FPL Manual shares his thoughts on Morocco’s national football team, their best players to consider, and the predicted XI for the Africa Cup of Nations 2024.

Team Profile

  • Name – Morocco
  • Nicknames – Les Lions de l’Atlas (The Atlas Lions)🦁
  • Current World ranking – 13th (1st in Africa)

Morocco became AFCON champions for the first time in 1976, were runners-up once in 2004 and finished third place in 1980.

 

Morocco AFCON 2021 Review

Morocco had a solid finish in Group C of the last AFCON campaign finishing with 7 points. However, the journey would come to a halt after a 2-1 defeat to the Pharaohs in the quarter-finals.

 

Setting New Records 🎖️

Morocco recently achieved a new milestone at the World Cup in Qatar by being the first African nation to make it to the semi-finals. The Atlas Lions are now ranked first in Africa and are major favourites to go all-out and win the tournament.

 

Morocco’s Road to AFCON

On the 27th of March 2023, Morocco secured their spot for a 19th AFCON appearance. With three wins and just one defeat, The Atlas Lions finished top of Group K with nine points scoring eight goals, and conceding only three.

 

Morocco’s Top AFCON Qualifier Performers

Top scorers

  • En-Nesyri – 2 goals
  • A El Kaabi, Faycal Fair, Hakim Ziyech – 1 goal each

Recent form: In their last eight games, Morocco had four wins, three draws, and one defeat in 2023.

Morocco Team News

Official Team list representing Morocco at Cote D’Ivoire:

Morocco Injury Updates
  • “He (Mazraoui) is progressing well in his recovery.” The Moroccan wingback is just recovering from an injury, Mazraoui is racing against fitness and might not be available for Morocco’s first game.
  • Mazraoui was seen recently in individual training and is predicted to be available for MD 2 against DR Congo.

 

Morocco Probable Lineup AFCON 2024

The manager – Walid Regragui tends to stick with a 4-3-3 formation. The Atlas Lions might lineup this way for the tournament:

Note: Mazraoui is a big doubt and might not be involved in MD 1 and MD 2. Attiyah Allah can cover him at LB.

Best Morocco AFCON Fantasy Player Picks

 

Nailed Players

A Hakimi 6.5m, Ziyech 10m, R Saiss 5m, En-Nesyri 9.5m

 

Rotation Risk

A Harit 6m, El Kaabi 6.5m, S Amallah 5.5m

 

I notice that Morocco do not get a lot of penalties, however, Boufal is likely to step up to the spot when one is available.

 

Summary

Heading into this AFCON campaign, Morocco is one of my favourite teams I actually see going far in this contest. Starting matchday 1 against Group F rivals Tanzania, Hakimi, Ziyech and En-Nesyri are my top three RealFevr fantasy assets to consider from the Atlas Lions.

You can find additional AFCON 2024 Fantasy resources here.

AFCON Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football, FEATURED

AFCON Fantasy Preview – Mali

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AFCON Fantasy is here and the FPL Manual shares his thoughts on Mali’s national football team, their best players to consider, and the predicted XI for the Africa Cup of Nations 2024.

Team Profile

  • Name – Mali
  • Nickname – Les Aigles (The Eagles)
  • Current World ranking – 51st (9th in Africa)

The Eagles have never won the Africa Cup of Nations. However, their best result at the tournament was finishing as runners-up in 1972.

 

AFCON 2021 Review

Despite securing the third position in Group F to qualify, the Carthage Eagles surprised many by defeating then Group D leaders, Nigeria in the Round of 16. Unfortunately, their hard work came undone in the quarterfinals when they faced Burkina Faso.

 

Mali’s Road to AFCON

On June 18th, 2023, The Eagles secured their ticket for a 13th AFCON appearance in Cote D’Ivoire. Mali finished as Group leaders in then Group G with 15 points, they had five wins and just one defeat, scoring 15 goals and conceding only two goals.

 

Mali’s Top AFCON Qualifier Performers

Mali’s Top Scorers:

  • M Camara, K Doumbia – 3 goals
  • El Bilal Toure, Ibrahima Kone, Nene Dorgeles – 2 goals
  • K Coulibaly, A Dieng, Adama Traore – 1 goal each

Mali Team News

Below is the Official 27 man squad list representing the Eagles at Cote D’ivoire for AFCON:


Missing key player: Ibrahima Kone ❌

“Ibrahima Koné has suffered a fracture combined with a dislocation and sprain. An explosive cocktail. AFCON over!”

Mali will be without Kone this AFCON after he got injured in a friendly against Uganda last October.

 

A star is born ⭐️

The name Kamory Doumbia has been ringing in my ear for a while but this is only thanks to his consistency for club and country. The 20-year-old scored three goals for the Eagles during the Qualifiers and is currently on a strong league form in the Ligue 1.

 

Style of play

The Eagles tend to prefer a high-press style of play in and out of possession, pushing their opponents to be uncomfortable for 90 minutes until they break and lose the ball. The hunger never ends till the final whistle is blown. In case you missed it, in preparation ahead of the AFCON 2023 preparations Mali got a 6-2 win in a friendly match against Guinea-Bissau. Goal-scorers:

  • Youssouf Niakaté ⚽️
  • Kamory Doumbia⚽️
  • Lassana Coulibaly⚽️
  • Falaye Sacko⚽️
  • Néné Dorgeles ⚽️⚽️

 

Mali Probable Lineup AFCON 2024

Mali’s head coach Éric Chelle is very straightforward and mostly uses the 4-3-3 formation (on paper) but when in transition, it tends to change into a narrow 4-3-1-2 formation. Here’s how Mali could lineup for AFCON 2023:

Before I reel out the fantasy picks, I would like to answer a few questions. For example, who is on penalties? We don’t know for sure, as the last pen taken was by Lassine Sinayoko is not a regular on the team. Koita might be the next taker (5/6 for Club) according to @FPL_Maxime.

 

Is Sikou Niakate nailed? No. Not at all the 4m defender has only made three caps for his country and only got one start during the qualifier. Sikou Niakate is far from nailed and I don’t know who started that rumor he ever was but they should be flogged, just kidding.

Best Mali AFCON Fantasy Players

 

Nailed Players

K Doumbia 6m, Y Bissouma 5.5m, S Koita 6m, H Traore 5m

 

Rotation Risk

F Sacko 4.5m, S Niakate 4m, L Sinayoko 5m

 

Still not certain who makes the #1 goalie but Diawara made more caps during the AFCON qualifiers, so I believe it’s him.

 

Summary

Mali may not have the most formidable team like others do but their cohesion, team spirit, and style of play are quite unique and this will make them stand out. Starting Group E against South Africa, K Doumbia & Hamari Traore are my top two assets to target going forward.

 

Just a little review/extra note: Massadio Haidara is not in the final squad, Moussa Diarra (4m) the LB might be a regular as he started the recent friendly but Amadou Dante (4m) made more caps during the AFCON qualifiers. Watch this space carefully.

You can find additional AFCON 2024 Fantasy resources here.

AFCON Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football, FEATURED

AFCON Fantasy Preview – Tunisia

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AFCON Fantasy is here and the FPL Manual shares his thoughts on Tunisia’s national football team, their best players to consider, and the predicted XI for the Africa Cup of Nations 2024.

Team Profile

  • Name – Tunisia
  • Nickname – Les Aigles de Carthage (The Eagles of Carthage)
  • Current World Ranking – 28th (3rd in Africa)

Tunisia has claimed the AFCON title once in 2004 and was the runner-up in 1965. Since 1964, the Carthage Eagles stand out as the only African nation that has not missed an AFCON tournament, setting a record with an impressive streak of 16 consecutive appearances.

 

AFCON 2021 Review

Despite securing the third position in Group F to qualify, the Carthage Eagles surprised many by defeating then Group D leaders, Nigeria in the Round of 16. Unfortunately, their hard work came undone in the quarterfinals when they faced Burkina Faso.

 

Tunisia’s Road to AFCON

On the 28th of March 2023, Tunisia secured its spot in Cote D’Ivoire. This would make it their 21st AFCON appearance in the competition, the Carthage Eagles finished top of Group J with 13 points (4 wins, 1 draw, and 1 defeat) scoring 11 goals, and conceding only once.

 

Tunisia’s Top AFCON Qualifier Performers

Top scorers

  • Youssef Msakni – 5 goals
  • Jouini – 2 goals
  • Velaphi, Sliti, Jaziri, Maaloul – 1 goal each

Recent form: In their last nine games, Tunisia have five wins, one draw, and three defeats in 2023

Msakni is on penalty duty for the Carthage Eagles.

Tunisia Team News

Official Tunisia squad list ready for business at Cote D’Ivoire:

Noticeably dropped player: Hannibal Mejbri. As reported by Fabrizio Romano, Mejbri dropped out of the Tunisia team so he can leave Manchester United and get more playing time on loan. Best of luck, Mejbri!

 

AFCON Record in the making

  • 98 caps⭐️
  • 22 goals for his nation ⚽️

History is about to be made as The Tunisia skipper is set to make his 8th AFCON appearance joining previous AFCON elites like Rigobert Song and Ahmed Hassan.

 

Tunisia Probable Lineup AFCON 2024

The Carthage Eagles boss – Jalel Kadri tends to try a few formations with either a 3-4-3/4-4-2 shape. However, the 4-3-3 formation could perhaps be the formation that gets the job done. This is how the Tunis lads could line up for AFCON 2023:

 

Style of play

Conceding just a goal during the AFCON qualifiers, Tunisia seems to have a reliable defence. However, it seems to be more promising in their attack, as Tunisia tends to make a good account of themselves from set-piece play.

 

Before I reel out the fantasy picks, a few things to note from Tunisian supporter @samiestt:

  • Concerning the main goalie – “Ben Said is expected to become a starter in the last two matches of the World Cup qualifiers in light of the decline in Dahmane’s level.”
  • Concerning the Left Back position (Abdi vs Maaloul) – “Al-Abidi is not a surprise. He has been a starter for a year and a half with Tunisia, and Maaloul (5m) is on the bench (against Mauritania).”
  • Concerning who is on set-piece duty – “Abdi and Sliti if starts.”

Best Tunisia AFCON Fantasy Players

 

Nailed Players

Msakni (7.5m), Abdi (4.5m), Ben Said (4.5m), Shkiri (5.5m)

 

Fairly Nailed: (play 70 mins or play 2/3 group games)

Sliti (7m), Achouri (6m)

 

Rotation Risk

Maaloul (5m), Hamza Rafia (5m), Dahman (5m), Jouini (6m)

 

Summary

Having reached the quarter-finals in AFCON 2021, the experienced Tunisia team currently ranked 3rd in Africa is ready for another successful tournament. Facing Namibia in Matchday 1, Msanki, Abdi, and Skhiri are the top RealFevr fantasy assets to consider.

You can find additional AFCON 2024 Fantasy resources here.

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