In the end, Round 24 in MLS Fantasy Soccer Manager ended much like its real life counterpart – a mixed bag with some truly unexpected results.
Top scorers on the week were Cristian Roldan ($5.9) and Benny Feilhaber ($11.6) with 14 points each. Roldan’s price as a midfielder confirms his underdog status, but earning a penalty, setting up a goal, and scoring one of his own sees the Seattle Sounder enjoy his second standout performance of the past few weeks.
Fellow Sounder Clint Dempsey ($11.0), with his statement-making brace, was the top forward on the week with 13 points. Dempsey has been an under-performer this Fantasy season, just now getting back to his original valuation after dipping considerably.
Also worth 13 points on the round were surprises Jamison Olave ($7.7) and David Accam ($9.3). Olave has been in and out of the Real Salt Lake lineup this year, so less than 1% of fantasy managers were ready for his standout performance. Accam became the first Chicago Fire player to make more than one appearance in the MLS Fantasy Dream Team this season. He had a goal and an assist in the Fire’s first road win since 2014.
The rest of the Dream Team is as follows:
Top marks this week were achieved by Blood Dragon managed by Daniel Rahm. This Columbus Crew fan used Federico Higuain ($10.8) and Roldan from the Dream Team, but his Coup de Grace was captaining Bradley Wright-Phillips ($11.6). Those standouts plus the high-point-average the Crew SC starters got from their win over the New England Revolution were good for 93 points. Congratulations and enjoy your prize!
Doing the Dirty Deeds
As we talked about last time, Round 25 consists of just the matches kicking off 1791854465" tabindex="0">on Wednesday. That’s going to mean a fair amount of scrambling to cobble together a full strength XI. Keep in mind that these are midweek games, so clubs are going to have some squad rotation going on as well. I would hold off on my transfers to as close to the transfer deadline as your schedule allows. To that point:
Round 25 transfer deadline is 1791854466" tabindex="0">Wednesday August 24th at 7:30pm ET
Not playing are Colorado, Dallas, New York City, New York, Portland, Salt Lake, Kansas City, and Vancouver
Keep an eye on the Injury Report and the Disciplinary Committee decisions
Three of the kickoffs happen at that 7:30pm ET deadline, so make your roster filling decisions as soon as those lineups are announced. Every team is in action on the weekend, so that doesn’t have to factor into your decisions.
I’m taking a good look at Columbus after last week’s match. Justin Meram ($8.6) could be a good addition to my squad for this round and beyond, and don’t forget new signing defender Nicolai Naess ($7.6).
DraftKings weekly top scorers
- GK - Sean Johnson (21 fantasy points)
- D - Jamison Olave (20 fantasy points)
- M - Clint Dempsey (31.25 fantasy points)
- F - David Accam (25.5 fantasy points)
