By CASEY CANNON

Hello and Welcome to the Soccer by Ives Fantasy Corner – now with new intro music! Every week I dig through statistics, news, and rumors to provide the reader with the kind of fantasy advice that only a trained first aid responder can provide.

Let me first say thanks to the fellas at MLSFI podcast for having me on this week. If you haven’t tried yet give them a listen. If AJ was right and San Jose beats Vancouver, I may have to change my team name in shame. Before I get to the pick though, let’s take a look at last week’s League results.

The fantasy team Blackthorn scored a league high points last week. Meanwhile Murder Inc. maintained the top SBI spot although he only earned 42 points. My score was below average 40 points and thus I dropped to 53rd in the SBI league. The difference between moving up and dropping was picking Saad over Kamara. Let’s see how this week’s matchups look.

TEAM PICKS

Take Three – Vancouver Whitecaps – The spreadsheet says Vancouver wins this big. I think that Vancouver puts several goals on San Jose. While San Jose did trot out the JV team Wednesday even with two full strength squads Vancouver wins this one. Pick up Camilo and two other Mid/Forward types.

Take three – Philadelphia Union – I don’t love the Union but this week it’s all about their opponent. My spreadsheet says there is a 61% chance of the Union pitching a shutout. Sons of Ben should enjoy the chance to pick three of their guys and still do well in the fantasy standings.

Avoid – D.C. United – If D.C. wins I won’t mention them in the avoid paragraph for a least a month.
That’s right, if D.C. United somehow travels from Chicago to Philadelphia and wins after playing a grueling midweek game I’ll officially remove them from the Chivas USA auto-loss category.

Individual picks
Vice Captain – Camilo Sanvezzo, Vancouver Whitecaps – I prefer to go with the riskier picks on Saturday and retreat to my security blanket Sunday. Camilo isn’t much of a risk although he has been a bit below his 5.7PPG the last couple weeks. This week I expect him to earn points against San Jose. 18% of the league has him selected so this isn’t much of a differential pick, but as a vice for the caparoo, I think he is the best available choice.

Caparoo Bench Player – Chris Klute, Colorado Rapids – Klute has now barely surpassed Nathan Sturigs as the best PPG pick from the Rapids (5.3PPG). Picking a defender that is playing against Chivas is always reasonable. While there is only a 40% chance for the road shut out there is only a 20% chance Chivas USA scores two goals. Hope for an assist from Klute to push his score. Personally, I am hoping there isn’t a goal like TFC’s from last week to crush the spine of my team. My defense is heavily invested in the Rapids.

Value Pick – Jordan Harvey, Vancouver Whitecaps – This defender is only owned by 1.1% of the league and only costs 4.5M . This is a bet against San Jose being able to score on the road. This is not a long term pick, but something to be used in conjunction with a wildcard.

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 Matias Laba’s run though the New England defense all that matters is that singular moment of brilliance.

Captain: Camilo Sanvezzo, Vancouver Whitecaps
2. Blas Perez, FC Dallas
3. Thierry Henry, New York Red Bulls

Tiebreak: 23

That’s all for today. I’ll be back next week with more Fantasy advice.