MLS GW27 Tips – Fantasy Major League Soccer

After this week, we have only seven rounds left of MLS fantasy. And this round is no ordinary round — it will be probably the most pivotal round we’ve seen all year. Make no mistake, whatever plans you have in store for your fantasy squad, your ambitions will be won or lost between the transition from this round to the the next.

What makes this round so special? For starters, ten teams are on a bye, and ten teams are on active duty. Thus, the MLS game designers decided to give us a wildcard this round (how kind of them). But even with that wildcard, there is a very fine line we have to walk to make it effective. Not only do we have to dance around the ten teams on a bye, but we have to plan for Round 28 (with a full slate of games and two DGW teams). And if that wasn’t enough, a great portion of the superstars in the league are getting called up for international duty while all of this is going on.

If you wanted to tap out now and just give up, nobody would blame you. Every other major league in the world is taking the week off for international play. The MLS thought that resting half of the teams was as far as they could go. Swell, isn’t it?

How do I even begin to write a strategy column for this week? I think that all I can do is lay out the facts, and maybe by the time this article is done we’ll have something of a plan. We’ll see.

[divider_1px]

#1 — Know who is and isn’t playing

For this round, the teams that aren’t participating are: Colorado, DC, Houston, LA, NYCFC, NYRB, Portland, RSL, SKC and Vancouver.

The teams playing this week: New England v Orlando, Montreal v Chicago, Seattle v Toronto, San Jose v Philadelphia and Columbus v Dallas.

Already you start to see that no matter what your team was last week, it’s going to have to undergo some serious changes to accommodate matches this week. Both NY teams and LA being left off is a bit of a killer. And being a wildcard week, even though we need to make changes, can you really sell off every player from the bye week teams? I think not. But let’s leave that alone for the moment.

The important thing to remember here is that Colorado and SKC will have a DGW in GW28. That little fact might be crucial in building your team for this week.

[divider_1px]

#2 — The international call-ups

Here is the link from MLS with a running list of names that are going to be taken away this week… MLS International call-ups

Key players from teams playing this week are: Laurent Ciman (Montreal), Kaka (Orlando), Cyle Larin (Orlando), Fabian Castillo (Dallas), David Accam (Chicago), Marco Pappa (Seattle), Blas Perez (Dallas), Kei Kamara (Columbus), Clint Dempsey (Seattle).

There are a host of other names on the list from teams that aren’t playing. But most of the star power is gone from this week’s games as well. Add to that, Sebastian Giovinco was actually called up to the Italian team, but he withdrew because of injury. His adductor strain isn’t looking promising for this weekend’s game in Seattle either. So, we’re left with ten teams competing with somewhat limited rosters. Are you ready for that?

[divider_1px]

#3 — So what do we do?

I see it as having two choices — and the choice you make depends on what your goal is for this year, and how much risk you’re willing to take to accomplish that goal.

OPTION A: Build for the DGW now – forsake all major players on international call-up

This option should be used if you absolutely need points each and every week – regardless of their source. In this plan, you will field eleven players from the ten teams playing this weekend, but the sticking point is how you will decide to build your bench. Your bench will need to be made up of only SKC and Colorado players so that you have a nearly a full roster of DGW players to usher you into the next week.

When you get your normal allotted transfers back, you can begin to sell off a few of your players from this week for major players returning from international duty. An example of this team would look something like this:

The problem with this option is that it doesn’t give you any bench support for this week — but as long as you choose proven starters, that shouldn’t be too much of an issue. The second problem is that you won’t have a ton of star power to really generate points this week, but you’ll have a load of players ready to storm the field next week — but when we talk about risk management, this is where you have to decide how much you trust Colorado and SKC on a DGW to be your saviors. And obviously, you could tweak this design any way you like. If you prefer four SKC players over three, you could make that change.

OPTION B: Build your All-Star roster now, take a lesser score this week but huge gains through the rest of the year.

Maybe you don’t feel good about leaving Keane and Dos Santos off of your team going forward. Maybe the thought of using a WC and not having a single LA Galaxy player at all terrifies you. Those are valid emotions to have when you are using a wildcard this late in the year.

But if you want to maximize your players for the stretch run and grab those superstars, you have to make the sacrifice to points this week. And really, looking at the talent available to you, maybe that’s not a terrible gamble to take. I obviously don’t have to show you what a stacked roster would look like — we’re all capable of creating a team of the best players available. But using Option B is the riskier choice in this scenario because instead of banking on SKC and Colorado to produce in a DGW, you’re banking on all of your returning international players to play right away.

Of course, you could combine the two options into something more palatable. If you used Option A and stuck with two Colorado players and two SKC players on the bench, you could open up three bench spots to stash a few gems for the long haul. It’s all dependant on risk management at this stage.

[divider_1px]

#4 — The Captain Picks

Well this is a shorter article than what we’re used to, isn’t it? But really there isn’t a ton left to say. We are going to see many first-time starters this weekend I think. There will be a few surprises in store — so taking a chance on an unproven commodity could be like striking gold. The problem is that there isn’t much to scout out now with all of these absences. Your main choice will be in deciding how you want to build your bench for the rounds to come. But we covered that, so on to the captain picks…

The Top Tier — Obafemi Martins. If you look at every team playing this weekend and simply pick the best player from those ten teams that isn’t called up, your obvious choice has to be Martins. Not only is he going to be playing at home, but he’ll be up against a woeful Toronto defense that most likely won’t have the services of Giovinco available to them as a release valve. Easy pick.

The Second Tier — Quincy Amarikwa. Quincy is averaging 5 points per game over his last three matches, and he’s really been the shining star in San Jose’s resurgence lately. The fact that they get to play against a Philadelphia side that doesn’t travel well could mean big points for him.

The Upset Pick — Ethan Finlay. Nobody really knows how well Finlay is going to play without Kei Kamara to fill up the box. Will the interplay between Finlay and Higuain be as strong? It’s hard to tell. But Finlay has the goods to be a decent scoring option at home against a Dallas side that has been absolutely gutted by international call-ups.

[divider_1px]

MLS GW27 Tips – Fantasy Major League Soccer This article was written by Guy Sanchez (FootyFantastic)

Follow @Guy_M_Sanchez



[divider_1px]

Don’t forget that Guy does have his own MLS blog and we highly recommend a visit as it expands even more upon the current GW – http://www.footyfantastic.com/