By Jove, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a wide open beginning to the MLS season. All that attack meant high scores for MLS Fantasy Round 1. Welcome to MLS Fantasy Rewind, my name is Josie and I’ll be your DJ this afternoon.
There were a number of surprises, as big performances came from players outside the usual suspects. The top point getter was stellar Montreal Impact midfielder Ignacio Piatti who managed a brace, an assist, an attacking bonus of 3, as well as taking advantage of some of the new bonuses for pass completion and shots.
Two teams contributed more than one player to the Dream Team. The LA Galaxy were part of that trend of unexpected contributors as Mike Magee came off the bench to score 17 points and former LA Galaxy II defender Daniel Steres had a 10 point performance. In 45 minutes, Magee was involved in all four of LA’s goals so keep an eye out to see if he’s worked into the starting XI.
Sporting Kansas City had to deal with several key absences, but their defense held strong on the road in Seattle. Clean sheet bonuses put Matt Besler (10 points) and Nuno Andre Coelho (16 points) on the Dream Team, plus Coelho smashed home the match winner for SKC from distance. Don’t jump to conclusions here KC’s new center back isn’t known historically as a goalscorer, and their backline got to face a 10-man Sounders team for much of the match.
It’s still way too early to call trends, but midfielders were the business this weekend raking up bonuses.
Shane Goodwin and his team ⁀⋎⁀⋎⁀O (great team name) was the eligible winner this week. Shane was smart enough to choose three Dream Teamers for a score of 114 for the round, and also held the tiebreaker of captain with the most points. Congrats on the MLSStore.com gift card!
Round 2 kicks off our first week of regular schedule, with national broadcasts on Fridays and Sundays. Orlando City SC and the Chicago Fire play in the first Friday night matchup, and with Kaká missing the opener with injury that’s worth following closely. Chicago got a surprise start and Dream Team performance from David Accam on Sunday, returning from illness early.
FC Dallas get to take a short trip to Houston after starting the season at home, but keep a close eye on the status of Zach Loyd who was benched on Sunday.
Bonus Points
Let’s kick off the quick hit section of MLS Fantasy Rewind by literally talking bonus points. Some new categories debuted last night, so let’s see who got an extra boost early on.
Shots: Accam, Federico Higuain - It takes four shots to tab a one point bonus, and these two were closest to getting two points at seven shots each. Either would make a good pick for someone looking to bolster their midfield this week.
Pass Completion: Seven players with two point bonus - Not as much correlation here between the bonus and high scores. Four midfielders and three defenders were accurate enough for a two point bonus, including our two Dream Team defenders from SKC.
Fouls Won: Dillon Powers, DaMarcus Beasley - Again, being fouled a lot isn’t an indicator of high points so far, with these two fouled six times over to course of their games.
My takeaway? Shots are a good indicator of attacking involvement, and involved players are either going to put points on the board or find themselves replaced. Not a bad starting place when looking to make transfers.
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