By ALAN LEDBETTER

When I said that New York would have a good match up against San Jose, I was not expecting Luke Rodgers to be the main beneficiary. Rodgers notched two goals and an assist in NewYork’s beating of San Jose causing many fantasy implications.

When the starting lineups for the game were announced, the many Juan Agudelo fantasy owners were left scratching their heads. It is still up in there air on whether Rodgers will get the start when they travel to DC for their Thursday night clash, but Agudelo became a pretty risky fantasy play.

Also, the Real Salt Lake vs. Philadelphia Union match that was schedule for this week has been rescheduled to aid RSL’s Champions League run. The two teams have had many players with major fantasy output for the year but you will be forced bench them for this week.

Here are a few more items to consider before setting your fantasy lineup this week:

FANTASY-FRIENDLY MATCHUPS

Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Portland Timbers

Portland is coming off a great week where they won both their games in front of their home crowd. This week, they will have to go on the road again as the travel to LA. Portland’s road form has been poor, with two losses and one tie in their three games. I expected this trend to continue vs. an LA team loaded with talent.

LA should have most of their stars back for the game this week after missing most of them intheir clash vs Chicago. Donovan Rickets and the LA defense are great plays this week. Landon Donovan is still “day to day,” and it is unclear at this point whether he is ready to play. The rest of the LA attack has still not found a consistent scoring threat, but I would still play all my LA
starters this week.

San Jose Earthquakes vs Chivas USA

San Jose’s defense was greatly tested last week at New York. But they should have a much easier match up this week. Chivas has only scored three goals so far this season, the lowest ofany team. This makes Jon Busch and the rest of the SJ defense a good play for the week.
The stars of the San Jose attack, Chris Wondolowski and Bobby Convey, should also have agood chance to pick up a lot of fantasy points. Chivas has been missing Jimmy Conrad in thecore of their defense. He was listed as questionable last week and if he is out this week, it will bean even better match-up for the San Jose attack.

Toronto FC vs Columbus Crew

This game will not have a great attacking presence; however, this game is a great play for defenders and goalies. Wil Hesmer has recorded four straight shutouts and will have a great opportunity to record another one this week. The Toronto offense has not shown much life after their trade of Dwayne DeRosario and was shutout their past two home games.

The Columbus Crew offense has not been all that potent as well. Toronto’s Stephan Frei was left out to dry in their last game vs. DC but he looked very good earlier in the week vs. LA. Both teams have a good opportunity to get shutout points this game.

INJURY WATCH

Fredy Montero made his return to the pitch this week, coming on as a sub and notching an assist in the second half of their game. I would not pick him up quite yet, as they have an away match at Colorado this week. LA Galaxy defender, Leonardo, picked up what appears to be a season ending injury. Donovan, Conrad, Jay Demerit all have nagging injuries that have led to them missing playing time. Be sure to check for their status in the injury report before feelingconfident playing them. For other injury news, check out the most updated MLS injury report.

Also, don’t forget to check out the latest disciplinary report for players serving suspensions.

The deadline for Week 7 is Thursday at 7:00 pm. Be sure to change your lineups by then.

SBI League Standings (Top 10)

1. Hrycaldo………………………….127 points

2. Waterbury FC…….. ……………122

3. Disc Golf for Dynamo…………117

4. Discovery Park Range…………115

5. HANDtoBALLS………………..114

6. My Ching-A-Ling……………….113

7. Spartak SD…………………………111

8. SSC…………………………………..110

9. FC LC Reds……………………….107

T10. DynamoPit………………..106

T10. ChicagoFire8………………106

SBI Prediction League Standings (Top 10)

1. Driscoll’s Boys………………………105 points

2. Winning!……………………………….99

T2. My Ching-A-Ling………………..99

4. Old Metro Stars……………………..98

T5. Bogdanov FK…………………….97

T5. Missoula Strikers Ma…………….97

7. FC Prush UTD……………………96

8. Sharpness FC………………………….95

T9. HANDtoBALLS…………………..93

T9. Pogon1966……………………………93

T9. 30 Kilsyt B SC………………………93

LAST WEEK'S SBI PREDICTION LEAGUE TOP SCORER

Driscoll’s Boys (34 points: 2 exact, 3 correct margin, 1 tie, 1 correct)
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Will you keep Donovan on your team? Which player do you think is in for the biggest week? Think Rodgers will get the start over Agudelo again this week?

Share your thoughts below.