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REMINDER: The transfer deadline for Round 10 is Thursday at 10:15 pm ET.
MLS Fantasy Soccer: Manager Expert Jason Saghini and MLSsoccer.com’s Nick Firchau hosted this week’s episode of "Starting Lineup" (above), answering the questions you submitted to @MLSFantasy.
In this week's fantasy poll, we asked you to choose between four forwards and vote on which one would have the highest score in Round 10. The results will be revealed on next week’s show so you still have time to vote. The four candidates in this week’s poll are; Ryan Johnson (POR), Jack McInerney (PHI), Claudio Bieler (SKC) and Chris Wondolowski (SJ).
POLL: Which forward will have the highest score in Round 10?
Today, we’re going to do things a little bit differently. Jason answered most of your questions in the video above, so I’m going to focus primarily on the key points heading into the transfer deadline. Here we go.
1. Will the LA Galaxy have its key players in the starting lineup against the Houston Dynamo?
Four key players were absent from last week’s game against the Colorado Rapids: Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane, Todd Dunivant and Carlo Cudicini. As of Wednesday, Donovan is the only one out of the four that is back in full training. He was used as a neutral player in practice on Tuesday, but trained in full Wednesday. The extra day of rest should benefit him even more. As far as the rest of LA’s key players are concerned:
- Keane was held out of practice on Tuesday, but ran a little today before leaving early.
- Dunivant did some light work on his own today, but left practice early as well.
- Cudicini is improving, but still has difficulty striking the ball. He’s hopeful for Sunday.
2. Is Deshorn Brown going to start for the Colorado Rapids against Toronto FC?
Jason touched on this in the video above. Brown is preparing to make his return from a quad injury that has kept him out the past two games, but the weather in Colorado is preventing him from getting reps with the first team. Kamani Hill, Atiba Harris and Danny Mwanga played well against Houston this past weekend and Edson Buddle is likely going to be a game-time decision. If the starting lineup had to be submitted today, Brown would likely be a second-half sub, not a starter. I do not think he’ll be a starter by the time this weekend rolls around, either. As a matter of fact, I just sold him!
- Jackson and Deshorn Brown (OUT) ----> Dillon Powers and Ryan Johnson (IN)
Tip: Martín Rivero and Pablo Mastroeni are expected to start. Hendry Thomas will likely miss this match after leaving last week’s game with a strained hamstring.
3. New England Revolution (Defense) vs. Portland Timbers (Offense)
As if things couldn’t get any worse for an already decimated Revs defense, starting left fullback, Chris Tierney, was hit with a one-game suspension for his reckless challenge on Philadelphia Union’s Sébastien Le Toux in the 90th minute of the their 2-0 victory last weekend. A.J. Soares went down a couple weeks ago with a strained hamstring and has been ruled out for this week. Also out for Thursday night's game is rookie sensation Andrew Farrell.
- Revs backline (Week 2) – Andrew Farrell, A.J. Soares, José Gonçalves, Kevin Alston
- Revs backline (Week 9) – Andrew Farrell, Stephen McCarthy, José Gonçalves, Chris Tierney
- Projected Revs backline (Week 10) – Darius Barnes, Stephen McCarthy, José Gonçalves, Sainey Nyassi
The Portland Timbers offense is playing in fantastic form at the moment. With all the defensive issues the Revs are having, and the fact that Portland are playing in front of their home crowd, do you expect their offense to match the performance they had against Sporting KC?
If so, Ryan Johnson, Rodney Wallace, Diego Valeri and the rest of the Portland Timbers offense should be on your transfer radar, especially with multiple games coming up in Round 11.
NOTE: Tweet your questions to @MLSFantasy and don’t forget to check out the MLS Fantasy Homepage when you get a chance.
