MLS GW13 – Tips Fantasy Major League Soccer

MLS GW13 – Tips Fantasy Major League Soccer

Let’s be honest here, this article doesn’t need to be very long because there isn’t a whole lot that needs to be said about this GW in FMLS. For starters, if you love to watch football, why wouldn’t you be watching the international friendlies that are going off on Wednesday instead of a few MLS games? Spain kicks off the day, Poland v Netherlands and a Belgium match will round out the middle of the schedule, and then the night will be capped off with Mexico v Chile? C’mon. It’s not even a question for even casual fans.

And then you have to take into account that the MLS is giving 8 teams a bye for the round. Somehow, 8 teams were afforded a bye week…but 12 teams have to make a push to get some points. Does it make sense? Of course not. You wouldn’t be playing FMLS if you were looking for a game to make perfect sense. But these are the conditions of the round we’re faced with, so we’ll make the best of it and we’ll set our rosters…and then we’ll sneak away to watch the last international friendlies before the big tournaments start.

#1) GW13 at a glance

For starters, let’s list the 8 teams you won’t have to worry about this week: Chicago, Colorado, Montreal, New England, NYRB, Orlando, Toronto and Vancouver will all be on bye weeks. As for the rest of the schedule, 3 matches will be played on Wednesday and the following 3 will be played on Thursday. The real kick in the shorts on this is the fact that Philly v Columbus will be the first match on the schedule – and that match will really be the only match you’ll get to see lineups for before the transfer cutoff time.

The next round starts on June 18th, so we will have a bit of a break in the action – but that round will also be devoid of any DGW teams.

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#2) Teams to consider

RSL – Real Salt Lake will play away this weekend to NYCFC (at this point, I think even the rec league full of fat guys could sneak at least one goal past that defense). Following the NYC game though, RSL will play home to Portland and then get a DGW in Round 15.

Philly – The Union get a home match this week against Columbus and then get to play an away game against NYC next round (see above for NYC-bashing parenthetical comment). Following that, Philly will get a DGW with a pair of home fixtures for Round 15 themselves. The good news here is that most people are already invested in this team to some degree, and those early picks should hopefully pay off for you in some capacity.

LA – The Galaxy are struggling to keep clean sheets lately, but they haven’t been shutout of a match themselves since the beginning of April. In fact, they’ve actually scored a total of 20 goals over the course of April and May, and that doesn’t look likely to slow down at any point with Giovani dos Santos really taking control of this team in attack. LA will also have a DGW in Round 15, and this is the perfect time to start loading up on Galaxy players.

NYC? – I’m going to put this here because everybody is still so bullish on the fact that NYC have a pair of home matches coming up, and they’ll have a DGW in Round 16. If you really like the way this team is playing, then by all means, pick up their players and have at it. But this team is a mess that can’t defend and can’t score in bunches. Why do I give the Galaxy a pass in defense? Because three times in the last couple of months the Galaxy scored 4 goals or more. They have a system of attack to compensate. NYC? Not so much. The LA goal differential is +11, NYC is a -6. They’re not even close.

Villa and Pirlo will score in pockets here and there, but I’ve said before that those guys are individual performers. If they don’t create something for themselves, the system they play in isn’t going to give them any help. LA plays within a system that works to create goals. If you’re really going to invest the type of cash into a player of Pirlo or Villa’s cost, you may as well shift those funds to other more reliable options. And if you’re on the fence about making an NYC transfer, just watch the highlights from their 0-7 loss to NYRB again. That should be enough to push you one way or another.

Dallas – I put Dallas in here as an honorable mention. They don’t have a DGW coming up on the horizon, but they do play 3 of their next 4 matches at home. So they’re definitely something to think about.

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#3) The -4 hits probably aren’t worth it

I’m sure there are many owners who are looking at more than a few players on a bye this round, and unless you have your wildcard, you have to think about whether or not you absolutely have to field a full team this round. Personally, I say take the zero points instead of chasing points via extra transfers.

This is one of those rounds that could be real easy to dig yourself into a hole. First of all, we don’t have any real clue about how these lineups are going to come out. Some squads may go full force, and others may try to get their stars a full two-week hiatus from footballing. Nobody knows what goes on in the mind of an MLS coach. Given the schedule that we have to work with this week, it’s going to be very hard to find that third transfer that you can guarantee will get you 5 points or better to cover the hit.

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#4) Captain Picks

First and foremost, you have to go with Giovani dos Santos. LA get to play SKC this round, and SKC are a mess right now. Their lineups have all the hallmarks of a manager grasping at straws hoping that something works. In the month of May, SKC won a single game, they drew one…and they lost four (three of those by shutout). Capitalize on the situation and make LA the center of your attention going into this round.

Mauro Diaz should also be on your radar. FC Dallas are playing at home against Houston, and in the each of the last two matches of this derby, the home team has scored at least 4 goals. I expect Dallas to really put up some goals here.

My last pick is a bit of a shocker, but what about Joao Plata? He has an assist in each of his last two matches and he scored a goal in that Columbus shootout. The best part is that he’s playing NYC this week. And if stats are worth anything, we know that somebody from RSL is going to score on them.

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Don’t forget to stop by mlsfantasyboss.com to catch up on their great weekly articles that lead into the deadline.

Or if you are after listening to more of Guy himself then be sure to drop in and give his Married Man’s Guide to Sports Addiction a listen!

To play the MLS game itself it’s fantasy.mlssoccer.com that you need.

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And last but not least, don’t forget to join the FF247 MLS League, Code is: 123-361

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MLS GW13 – Tips Fantasy Major League Soccer This article was written by Guy Sanchez (FootyFantastic)

Follow @Guy_M_Sanchez