Internationals: When Fantasy Managers Worry

There's almost a week left before Today Fantasy League starts, and you might think "Ah, it's the international week, time for a break." Actually, this does throw a huge spanner in our decision for Week 1.

Premier League has provided a great guide on the fixtures in which Barclays Premier League players will be involved, though they didn't state the players who are involved. This is where fantasy managers will have to do their research.

Supposedly you select Shinji Kagawa in your fantasy team, and you're considering of captaining him as Man Utd is playing Wigan at Old Trafford. After some research, you realized that Kagawa has been called up by Japan for Asia 2014 World Cup Qualifier, and will be playing on 11th Sep. After which, he have to fly from Japan to England (most likely on the 12th), have 2-3 days of rest/training before the match on Saturday (15th Sep)

Taking this into consideration, is Ferguson likely to start him in the game, or are there any ready-made replacement who didn't play any international games (e.g. Scholes) or traveled within Europe?

And it's not uncommon for players to return to their clubs with minor niggles or season-ending injuries while on international duty. With the deadline for captaincy on Friday night, Today Fantasy League managers will be crossing their fingers, hoping their selection will be 100% fit during the international week.

Here's the list of internationals fixtures that contains BPL players, from Premierleague.com

FRIENDLIES

5th September
Jordan v Iran
Cambodia v Philippines

6th September
Sweden v China
Japan v UAE
Lebanon v Australia

7th September
Brazil v South Africa
Singapore v Philippines
Spain v Saudi Arabia
Egypt v Benin

10th September
Brazil v China
Laos v Philippines

11th September
Czech Republic v Finland
Republic of Ireland v Oman
Liberia v Ghana
South Africa v Mozambique
Egypt v Cameroon

AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS QUALIFIERS

8th September
Zambia v Uganda
Ivory Coast v Senegal
Mali v Botswana
Ghana v Malawi
Liberia v Nigeria
Cape Verde Islands v Cameroon

9th September
Mozambique v Morocco
Congo DR v Equatorial Guinea

EUROPEAN WORLD CUP 2014 QUALIFYING

7th September
Russia v Northern Ireland
Azerbaijan v Israel
Kazakhstan v Republic of Ireland
Liechtenstein v Bosnia-H
Croatia v Macedonia
Lithuania v Slovakia
Andorra v Hungary
Finland v France
Latvia v Greece
Montenegro v Poland
Netherlands v Turkey
Slovenia v Switzerland
Bulgaria v Italy
Germany v Faroe Islands
Iceland v Norway
Luxembourg v Portugal
Moldova v England
Wales v Belgium

8th September
Scotland v Serbia
Denmark v Czech Republic          

11th September
Cyprus v Iceland
Israel v Russia
Georgia v Spain
Bosnia-H v Latvia
Norway v Slovenia
Turkey v Estonia
Slovakia v Liechtenstein
Austria v Germany
Hungary v Netherlands
Serbia v Wales
Sweden v Kazakhstan
Switzerland v Albania
Belgium v Croatia
Greece v Lithuania
Italy v Malta
Northern Ireland v Luxembourg
Poland v Moldova
England v Ukraine
France v Belarus
Scotland v Macedonia
Portugal v Azerbaijan

ASIAN WORLD CUP 2014 QUALIFIERS

11th September
Lebanon v Iran
Uzbekistan v Korea Republic
Jordan v Australia
Japan v Iraq

OCEANIA WORLD CUP 2014 QUALIFIERS

7th September
New Caledonia v New Zealand

11th September
New Zealand v Solomon Islands

SOUTH AMERICAN WORLD CUP 2014 QUALIFIERS

7th September
Colombia v Uruguay
Ecuador v Bolivia
Argentina v Paraguay
Peru v Venezuela

11th September
Chile v Colombia
Uruguay v Ecuador
Peru v Argentina

CONCACAF WORLD CUP 2014 QUALIFIERS

7th September
Jamaica v United States
Costa Rica  v Mexico
Cuba v Honduras

11th September
United States  v Jamaica
Mexico  v Costa Rica
Honduras  v Cuba

Credit: Premier League

Tick tock tick tock...7 more days till the Today Fantasy League starts....go sign up now if you have yet to do so! :)