By CASEY CANNON
Hello and Welcome to the Soccer by Ives Fantasy Corner – now with extra beer and fireworks! Every week I dig through statistics, news, and rumors to provide the reader with the kind of fantasy advice that only a guy on the cusp of vacation can provide.
So the Gold Cup came and cherry picked so many of our fantasy players. Make sure to check the list of call ups over the next weeks when making transfers. Avoid picking them this week and sell any of those players immediately Sunday morning.
Keep in mind that next week there are two game rounds. The first is July third and fourth, the second is the weekend. Remember to make trades and update lineups. Missing one is throwing away points and a pair of free transfers.
Over the last weeks the fantasy guys on the MLS mothership have mentioned a strategy called the switheroo. I’ll let them explain it here. Well the good folks at KFC Fantasy MLS Tips developed the Caparoo, which is putting a captain candidate on the bench while giving the armband to a player with a bye. For Instance, last week my captain was Stephen McCarthy who didn’t have a game. I had Morales with the armband and Keane first on my bench. On Saturday Morales “only” scored six points. If I had done the smart thing I would have done nothing. Morales would have his points doubled and Keane would have come on for McCarthy. Instead I bet that Keane was going to get his hat-trick. So I switched Keane for McCarthy Sunday Morning and gave Keane the armband. If Keane had a good game this would have been brilliant. Instead Keane earned me a grand total of four points – his two points doubled. Obviously there is risk, but if the situation was reversed and Keane had chocked first and I had been able to switch in Morales I would feel like a champ.
The application is this weekend if you feel like Davis might be the guy AND you can remember to check the scores Sunday morning this is something to consider.
In a week where the scores were depressed brycy squeezed out 78 points to win the SBI week. Meanwhile on top of the SBI league EternalBluForeverGrn currently stands at the pinnacle and is at 3rd overall. Personally, my switcheroo disaster cost me eight points, so instead of being tied with Ben Jata at 43rd I am at 53rd. Let’s see if we can find a way to climb back up.
Here is a closer look at this week’s MLS Fantasy Picks:
TEAM PICKS
Take Three – Montreal Imapct . At home the Impact have scored 16 goals and only allowed seven. The spreadsheet thinks they have a 40% chance of earning a shutout.
Take three – New England Revolution . They travel across the country to play Chivas. While travel distance takes some of the edge off the traveling team I don’t think that will be enough to produce a Chivas win. This game isn’t a lock for a shut out but still about a 30% chance.
Avoid – Colorado . Obviously there are worse teams but none of them are on the road in such a bad matchup. This will probably be a bad week for Colorado players and if you have them consider putting them on the bench.
INDIVIDUAL PICKS
Captain – Graham Zusi, SKC. Graham earned four points last week and now Columbus comes to into town. Interim Crew head Coach Robert Warzycha looks poised to shuffle his line up this week. Zusi and the Ivy Funds will gleefully pick apart the Crew. Sadly Zusi is back to being owned by nearly 40% of the league. This week he will earn his pay.
Value – Stephen McCarthy After traveling to Vancouver last week and now Chivas this week I am somewhat concerned. Still McCarthy is a steal at4.8M. His 5.7 PPG puts him in the top twenty for scoring yet only 1.3% of fantasy players have him. He needs to be on your team.
Overpriced – Robert Earnshaw . 12% of the League has a TFC player? This guy isn’t a top ten scoring forward or a top ten value. He plays for Toronto. If you are one of the 12% that have him it is time to move on.
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: Marco Di Vaio , Montreal
2. Kei Kamara , SKC
3. Camilo Sanvezzo , Vancouver
Tiebreak: 22
That’s all for today. I’ll be back in a couple weeks with more Fantasy tips.