Our regular round-ups of the international fixtures involving Fantasy Premier League assets continue.
There was Premier League representation in the finals of both the Copa America and Gold Cup, while there were also some familiar faces in action in the last 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations.
You can read how Sadio Mane (£11.5m) and Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) got on in their respective round-of-16 ties here.
Copa America
Brazil 3-1 Peru
Gabriel Jesus (£9.5m) took centre stage as Brazil won their first Copa America since 2007.
The Manchester City striker has sometimes struggled to make a mark on the international scene but he has impressed for Selecao this summer and was once more influential in the opening 45 minutes of Sunday’s final.
Jesus, again lining up on the right flank but interchanging positions in the front three, produced some fine trickery and a superb cross for Everton to volley Brazil in front after quarter of an hour before restoring his country’s lead with a goal of his own just before the interval.
Jesus teed up Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino (£9.5m) for presentable opportunities after half-time but his evening took a turn for the worse when he was dismissed for a second bookable offence on 70 minutes.
The tearful City forward took his frustration out on a water bottle, a dugout and a VAR monitor but later apologised for his actions, saying:
I want to apologise, I could have avoided it and I also need to grow up a lot.
Firmino has also shone in the Copa America this summer but the Liverpool striker was unable to add to his tally of two goals and three assists, twice heading wide and missing that aforementioned chance created by Jesus.
Firmino started all six of Brazil’s competitive matches this summer.
It was Firmino’s replacement in this game, Richarlison (£8.0m), who put the game to bed from the penalty spot in the dying stages.
Introduced for the Liverpool man with 15 minutes to go, Richarlison stepped up to convert from 12 yards after Everton had been barged over in the Peru box.
The Toffees’ winger’s only two starts in the tournament came in the group stage.
After five successive clean sheets, Alisson (£6.0m) was finally beaten but it took a 44th-minute penalty from Paolo Guerrero for the Liverpool custodian to eventually be breached.
Fernandinho (£5.5m) and Ederson (£6.0m) were unused substitutes while Willian (£7.0m), who had been a doubt for the final with a thigh injury, was also not called upon from the hosts’ bench.
Argentina 2-1 Chile
Alexis Sanchez (£7.0m) lasted just 17 minutes of the Copa America third/fourth-place play-off on Saturday, limping from the field with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.
The Manchester United winger pulled up chasing a long ball and was replaced soon after.
The Chilean attacker, who has impressed this summer after a less-than-stellar season at United, will now return to his club for further assessment.
The Red Devils are currently in Australia, with a match against Perth Glory to come on Saturday.
Chile fell to a 2-1 defeat in their talisman’s absence, with Lionel Messi and Gary Medel both being dismissed in the first half of a fiercely contested game.
Sergio Aguero (£12.0m) registered his second goal of the tournament in giving Argentina a 12th-minute lead, with the Manchester City striker latching on to a quickly taken Lionel Messi free-kick to round Gabriel Arias and score.
Aguero had earlier fired narrowly wide from distance and wasted two decent chances to put the game to bed late on, seeing a weak dink over Arias blocked and then screwing wide from just inside the Chile box.
The premium FPL forward was eventually substituted on 81 minutes.
Juan Foyth (£5.0m) and Nicolas Otamendi (£5.5m) again played the full 90 minutes in defence, while Roberto Pereyra (£6.0m) was an unused substitute.
The Watford winger played only 45 minutes in the entire tournament.
Gold Cup
Mexico 1-0 USA
Mexico were crowned CONCACAF Gold Cup winners for the eighth time after defeating the United States in the early hours of Monday morning.
It was no surprise to see the two pre-tournament favourites meet each other in the final in Chicago, although Mexico had made heavy work of getting past Costa Rica and Haiti en route to their meeting against the co-hosts.
Raul Jimenez (£7.5m) finished as the competition’s second-highest scorer on five goals but turned provider in yesterday’s final, teeing up Jonathan dos Santos with a deft backheel for the match-winning strike on 73 minutes.
The Wolves striker had five of Mexico’s 20 attempts on goal against the US but was unable to add to his tally for the tournament, scuffing one effort from just outside the six-yard box after earlier air-kicking from a similar distance.
Jimenez won the Golden Ball as he was named the tournament’s best player, having been involved in seven of his country’s 16 goals.
The Wolves striker started all six of Mexico’s Gold Cup matches and was substituted in only two of them.
The former Benfica striker played all 330 minutes in his country’s three matches after the group stage, with El Tri taken to extra-time in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.
Christian Pulisic (£7.5m) was on the losing side and finished the tournament with three goals to his name.
The Chelsea winger, starting on the left flank in this match, was lively in the opening stages and his best chance came after just five minutes when he was denied by Guillermo Ochoa after a fine run and close-range shot.
Pulisic again produced flashes of Eden Hazard-esque brilliance in this final and has been one of the tournament’s stand-out players; the former Borussia Dortmund midfielder was indeed voted the Best Young Player at this summer’s Gold Cup after full-time.
Pulisic started five of the USA’s six matches in the competition, also coming on as a substitute in the dead rubber against Panama in the group stage.
Africa Cup of Nations
Algeria 3-0 Guinea
Riyad Mahrez (£8.5m) scored a superb goal – his second of the tournament – as Algeria breezed through to the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals on Sunday.
Guinea were missing the injured Naby Keita (£6.0m) but the Liverpool midfielder is expected to be fit to begin his pre-season training programme with the club later this month after a post-tournament breather.
Keita played only two matches in the tournament – one as a substitute – and sustained a minor adductor strain during the group game against Nigeria.
Mahrez was peripheral in the first half of this round-of-16 tie but scored from his first shot of the game, deceiving his marker with a beautiful first touch to control an Ismael Bennacer cross before curling low past Ibrahim Kone in the Guinea goal.
Kone denied Mahrez a second soon after when blocking the Manchester City winger’s toe-poked effort.
The former Leicester City midfielder, playing in his usual right-wing role in this match, lasted the full 90 minutes.
Algeria face Ivory Coast in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
Mali 0-1 Ivory Coast
Wilfried Zaha‘s (£7.0m) stay in Egypt was extended by at least another three days as his Ivory Coast side edged past Mali in their round-of-16 encounter on Monday evening.
Having been a substitute for Les Elephants in their opening two group games, the Crystal Palace winger made his second successive start and scored the game’s only goal on 76 minutes.
Another FPL asset provided the assist for Zaha’s match-winning strike: Aston Villa forward Jonathan Kodjia (£5.5m) getting the faintest flick onto a long punt out from the back and setting Zaha free to prod the ball past Dijgui Diarra.
Kodjia had wasted a similar opportunity shortly before the goal and the lofted through-ball was a tactic Ivory Coast overly relied on as they struggled to get a foothold in the game.
Zaha’s side indeed didn’t have a single shot on target in the first three-quarters of Tuesday’s game.
The Palace winger, playing on the left flank as Kodjia led the line, struggled to make much of an impression and only had a couple of blocked shots to show for his efforts before breaking the deadlock.
More involved on the opposite flank, however, was Moussa Djenepo (£5.5m).
The pacy Southampton winger was a menace down the Mali left and drew several fouls, also teeing up Moussa Marega shortly before half-time with a pullback from the byline.
The Saints’ summer signing was too quick for his own good just after the break though, with Djenepo leaving the ball behind him as he closed in on opposition goalkeeper Sylvain Gbohouo just after the interval.
With Mali eliminated, the former Standard Liege midfielder will now return to Southampton for the latter stage of pre-season and should be in contention for Gameweek 1.
Having previously been fearful that a hamstring injury had ended his tournament, Serge Aurier (£5.0m) was back among the substitutes for Ivory Coast but wasn’t called upon.
Madagascar 2-2 DR Congo (4-2 Penalties)
Arthur Masuaku (£4.5m) was an unused substitute as DR Congo were dumped out of the Africa Cup of Nations by Madagascar.
The tournament’s surprise package won after a penalty shootout and will play Tunisia in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
Yannick Bolasie, still on the books at Everton but anticipated to leave this summer, was one of two players to miss a spot-kick for DR Congo.
Masuaku only played 90 minutes over the course of the tournament.
Ghana 1-1 Tunisia (4-5 penalties)
A Ghana side missing the injured Christian Atsu (£5.5m) were dumped out of the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday after a penalty shootout defeat to Tunisia.
The Newcastle United winger picked up a hamstring injury in the group stage match against Cameroon and has since returned to England for treatment.
4 years, 9 months agoHi all,
Another year another obsession with tinkering with my GW1 team begins...
Looking at building my team with a few key principles that I am pretty certain I want to stick with this year;
1) Me and wildcards don't seem to get on with eachother so planning on playing it early (GW3 or GW4). This means my team is only focused up to four weeks ahead Max, and little to no investment in a bench.
2) I want as many proven consistent performers at the start as I can get. Too many bad punts in previous years means I want to play it as safe GW1 and (hopefully) avoid any mass exodus price drops before I wildcard.
3) Head over heart. As much as I believe Aston Villa will win every game I'm going to avoid the Ming's/Grealish/McGinn triple up.
With that in mind, my first draft looks like this;
Foster, (Button)
TAA, Robertson, Digne, Coleman, (Kilman)
Salah, Sigurdsson, Fraser, (Dendonker), (Chalobah)
Vardy, Wilson, Deulofeu
Any thoughts/ideas on how to improve the team? Biggest areas of concern are whether I am investing too heavily in good fixtures over quality players (triple Everton and double Bournemouth worry me), and the lack of any Man City attack. Still have 1 million in the bank but can't see a way to get in City coverage while still sticking to my "no early punts" principle. I'm less worried about captaincy however, as I'm happy enough to stick it on Salah for the first three weeks.