By CASEY CANNON
Hello and Welcome to the Soccer by Ives Fantasy Corner – now with functional defenders! Every week I dig through statistics, news, and rumors to provide the reader with the kind of fantasy advice that only a serious chess player can provide.
Much like Eddie Murphy buying orange juice future contracts, this is the moment to buy buy buy. The players we missed: Gonzales, Henry, Zusi have all come back. The air is filled with the sounds of wildcards being cashed in. Anyone with a saved trade is looking to get in on the action. Need to know who to buy? Read on.
Last week I am Chinaglia scored a ginormous 133 points – with only ten active players! This shot him up to 26th in the SBI league. Murder Inc. is now in the overall SBI league and 5th in the competition. On my team I had three defenders average 1 point. I am now down to 49th in the SBI league but hopefully the picks below will pull me back up.
TEAM PICKS
Take Three – Houston Dynamo . This Houston team now with most of its requisite parts should be able to easily defeat the Canadian visitors. Expect the Dynamo to run this score up higher than a Giles Barnes PK.
Take three – Los Angeles Galaxy. LA will win this game against Chivas. This is the kind of game to give Galaxy fans false hope that the Robbie Rogers trade will ever work out (It will work out – for Chicago). The spreadsheet says a 2-1 win, but I don’t see Chivas getting that many.
Avoid – Toronto . What kind of world is it when Toronto isn’t nearly the worst team in the League? Is this how hockey fans feel? Still this week Toronto goes on the road to Houston. If Chivas or DC United were playing road games they would feature in this spot. Let me also be very first to ever say that when Koevermans comes back, Toronto may be a real power in the east. I mean, what are they odds he gets hurt again?
INDIVIDUAL PICKS
Captain – Robbie Keane, LAG. Keane is averaging 8.1 PPG but playing “Away” at Chivas. Of course, all playing at Chivas means for him is a different color jersey and a nice quiet stadium.
Value – Todd Dunivant You may have heard somewhere that LA is playing Chivas this weekend. Dunivant is only selected by 8.6% of the league but averages 5.5 PPG for a mere 4.7M
Overpriced – Jimmy Nielsen . We all remember when the Sporting Ivy Funds played good defense. Almost 12% of us still pine for those halcyon days. Nielson only earned two clean sheets since April. Lots of better values at goalie. I might not waste a trade to drop the guy, but if I’m popping my wildcard this guy is definitely cut.
THREE-PLAYER MONTE
The three player Monte game has two elements selecting: three players to score goals and creating a streak of picking a captain who scores every week. The players can be awful, tossed out of the game for reprehensible fouls, and single handedly responsible for costing his team the game but like David Lee Roth all that matters is that singular moment of brilliance.
Captain: Robbie Keane, LAG
2. Will Bruin , Houston
3. Ryan Johnson, Portland
Tiebreak: 17
That’s all for today. Come back next time for more MLS fantasy notes.