MLS GW31 Tips – Fantasy Major League Soccer

GW31 comes to us almost in a gentle manner. There are no DGW’s to worry about. There are no bye weeks to have to plan around. And we have back to back wildcards coming in the next two rounds — so nothing that you do this round will have any lasting negative consequence. Nice and gentle.

Everybody, whether in favor of them or not, has a strong feeling about DGW’s. Many people see them as the savior of fantasy rounds — and many people (myself included) see them as a crutch at best, and at worst they’re an element to the game that dictates your transfers for you. Look at last week’s results: 8 of the 11 players in the Dream Team were DGW players. There might be some amount of skill in choosing the correct DGW players, that’s true, but is it truly more difficult than choosing the correct players from an equal pool of teams?

And so while I see this week as a ‘gentle’ week full of traditional fantasy football goodness, many FMLS players are freaking out right now because there isn’t a crop of teams on DGW’s for them to build their team upon. So whether you enjoy this week or not, let’s see what we can do to still build the best team possible.

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*NOTE* Cut-off for roster changes is FRIDAY at 12AM GMT.

#1) The Game Conditions

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[/three_fourth]I just said that we have a full slate of games this weekend, but it’s also important to reiterate that you really can take a chance on any differential players that suit your fancy. With the wildcard coming next week — because the MLS simply couldn’t give every team a week off — we can almost bet against the fantasy league leaders and try to play our way up the rankings through non-traditional selections. Maybe this is the week you take a chance on Nagbe, not Nguyen. Maybe this is the week you take a chance on Federico Higuain instead of Kamara. Why? Because we only have four more weeks to shoot up the rankings, and some of you are going to have to stop following the pack and try to win the lottery on the normally marginalized players.

Also, there are a few international camps opening up this week. This is mostly going to affect U-23 players, but there are a few countries with senior team members getting called up. The running list from the MLS can be found HERE. Some notable names going away include: Harrison Afful, Krisztian Nemeth, Erick Torres and Matt Miazga.

And just to spice up an otherwise dull MLS week, Hurricane Joaquin is spinning around in circles wondering if he wants to visit the American East Coast or not. Some notable games that could be affected by this would be DC v NYC, NYRB v CLB and ORL v MTL. Right now the majority of the coverage is focused on the DC game — but with a hurricane, any match on the East Coast is subject to cancellation.

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#2) The Montreal Problem

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[/three_fourth]Montreal have been solid selections for a while now simply because you knew they were going to log a lot of minutes — and because their play under Drogba has been very productive. But in a bit of a shocker, Drogba has come out this week and declared himself ‘undecided’ on whether he’ll play on the turf in Orlando. We haven’t seen this kind of dilemma since the days of Thierry Henry. Remember when he’d screw over your fantasy team on a road game time after time? It appears that Drogba is claiming that he’s never played on turf before, and he’s leery of it.

If you couple this news with the threat of a looming hurricane, the Impact may just leave Drogba safe and sound at home as long as possible. But he has said that he’s committed to trying out the surface in practice and then make his decision from there. If you keep Drogba this week and he doesn’t play…don’t say nobody warned you.

Further complicating the issue is Ignacio Piatti. Piatti has been in Argentina with family during the last couple of matches. Some reports say that his father is seriously ill — and some reports have actually said that his father died. Either way, when you put it in that light it makes fantasy concerns seem trivial (which they are when compared to life and death situations).

So as to not be too callous then, continue to expect Piatti to be off of the team until better news rolls in. Many people kept Piatti over the last DGW holding out hope that he’d play — and if you still own him, sell him and get a player guaranteed to play for you. Drogba is a bit of a question mark though. Nearly everybody owns him at this point, but the risk that he doesn’t play is too great for me, I’ll probably offload him for this week myself.

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#3) Have LA Rebounded?

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[/three_fourth]LA snagged three points on Sunday in a 3-2 victory over Dallas. It’s not surprising that Dallas was able to put a pair of goals up on LA, because LA really isn’t as strong as they pretend to be defensively. But it was a surprise that they broke out of their offensive funk with such easy interplay with their big stars. We knew that they had this scoring in them, we just don’t know why it took them so long to find it again.

Giovanni Dos Santos had a goal and an assist. Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard both got goals as well. And now, at the point where hardly anybody still owned LA players after their dismal stretch, we’re left to wonder whether they merit a purchase once again. Despite the fact that they’re playing on the road against Seattle, I still like the prospect of buying LA players this round. Remember, it’s a guilt free purchase, and they certainly have the class to continue to score. LA have played Seattle twice already this year and have yet to be shutout against them. It’s a decent bet in my book.

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#4) Quick Takes

– It appears that Chicago’s Gilberto ($9.1) has found favor under the interim head coach. Not only was Gilberto afforded two starts, but he rewarded his owners with a brace against Toronto. He may be worth another look.

– Toronto will be playing at home against Philly this week — and Philly are coming off of an extra time loss against SKC in the Open Cup. Giovinco is dangerous no matter who he plays, but you’ll have to assume that he’s doubly dangerous against a team as worn down as Philly are.

– On the other side of that coin, Portland will get to entertain SKC once again — and SKC looked absolutely run down at the end of their match on Wednesday also. Portland would do well to take advantage of this opportunity because the first set of games these two played against each other this year resulted in 0-0 draws.

– Kei Kamara ($10.0) may still be one of the top choices for this week — the forward has amazingly scored five goals over his last four away matches alone. The trip out to New Jersey shouldn’t affect him much with numbers like those.

– If you’re looking for a steady return, Diego Valeri ($10.6) is averaging 6.8 points per game over his last five matches. He’s not scored a goal in that entire stretch, so he’s making up his points with bonuses and the occasional assist.

– Finally, it’s up to you on whether to take a point his this weekend. With no DGW points to save you, it’s a big risk. But on the other hand, if you’re willing to take the risk to get in the scoring players, you may find yourself doing better than those players who stuck firm with the core of their team from last week.

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#4) The Captain Picks

The Top Tier — We mentioned him above, but Giovinco is still the man until somebody proves me otherwise. Philadelphia shouldn’t have any kind of an answer for him this week, and he should get his fair share of points.

The Second Tier — Assuming he plays (which is still a possibility) I’d pick Drogba here. I’m going to play it safe and drop him, but he’s at least doing his fans a favor by promising to test out the field conditions prior to making up his mind. You never know, maybe he’ll find that the turf vs grass war is just a bunch of nonsense. What we do know is that if he decides to play, he’s got the class to perform well on any surface. And Orlando’s defense is garbage. Yeah, I said it.

The Surprise Pick — Gilberto. Nobody believed he had anything left, but his brace last round proved a lot of doubters wrong. With the talent that Gilberto has, it’s no wonder that the old coach was fired — it was that coach who left him on the bench for far too long. David Accam has the potential to be great, but Gilberto has already honed his craft. He may not be a world class talent, but he’s probably one of the better forwards the MLS has pound for pound.

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MLS GW31 Tips – Fantasy Major League Soccer This article was written by Guy Sanchez (FootyFantastic)

Follow @Guy_M_Sanchez

