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By CASEY CANNON

Hello and Welcome to the Soccer by Ives Fantasy Corner – now with more fewer hairballs! Every week I dig through statistics, news, and rumors to provide the reader with the kind of fantasy advice that only a true disciple of Tim Gunn can provide.

This week fantasy players should consider saving a trade. We should do this for two reasons. First during the Fantasy cup eventually everyone will run into a player who knows what he is doing. In that match up one extra trade may provide that margin of victory. Second, round 33 with six teams on a bye is approaching. An extra trade there will be a wonderful luxury.

Speaking of luxuries, during the last few weeks Clint Dempsey has been incredibly busy. Not scoring goals or making assists or game changing passes or anything positive for his team. At this point the Dempsey bust watch has progressed from a whispered thought in Portland to a roar in all the major American soccer cities.

Last weekend Murder Inc earned 86 points to both win the week for SBI and reclaim the top overall SBI spot. Last round I earned 57 points and fell to 55th place. Hopefully next week I won’t end with 18 points unused on my bench.

Read on for more advice on how to make the upcoming week work:

TEAM PICKS
Take Three – New England Revolution: New England has an almost 70% chance of earning a shutout. Those shutout points call seductively like Miley Cyrus if she were musical and attractive. Expect the Revs to score a goal or maybe two on their home field. Yup, nothing like playing at home with the team logo on the 50 yard line.

Take three – Real Salt Lake: I expected RSL to score two goals and have a 40% chance of a shut out before considering the effects of the San Jose CCL game. With the Earthquakes coming off a midweek game expect RSL to dominate every aspect of the game.

Avoid –Houston Dynamo: Houston hasn’t had a good result since mid-August. Based on form Houston will concede a goal but probably score a goal. Players who already have Davis can keep him but I wouldn’t pick up any Dynamo players this week.

Individual picks
Vice Captain – Robbie Keane, LA Galaxy: Robbie Keane averages 8.9 PPG. The LA Galaxy should score at least one goal against the Seattle Sounders on Saturday. My money is on Keane to get that goal.

Caparoo player – Thierry Henry, New York Red Bulls: If Robbie Keane gets that goal, move Thierry Henry onto the field and make him the captain. He has the second best form among forwards and is owned by 18.4% of fantasy owners.

Value– Jhon Kennedy Hurtado Sounders During week 33 the Seattle Sounders play two games. Owned by only 3.8% of the league, Jhon Kennedy Hurtatdo currently only costs 4.4M, but averages 4.7 PPG. I might bench him this weekend, but in the coming weeks he will be a great value.

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 missing a PK on purpose all that matters is that singular moment of brilliance.

Captain: Thierry Henry, New York Red Bulls
2. Mike Magee, Chicago Fire
3. Marco Di Vaio, Montreal Impact

Tiebreak: 23

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