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The Fantasy MLS Week Ahead: Week 2

Where we quickly look back on the week that was and look ahead to the upcoming week in Major League Soccer fantasy.

By Neal Thurman
Another big weekend on tap for Zusi?
Another big weekend on tap for Zusi?
USA TODAY Sports

It was a solid first weekend for Never Manage Alone FC with the MLSSoccer.com fanatsy game - something I haven't been able to say too often in the Premier League this season so I'll take what I can get. I finished the week with 75 points largely on the back of big performances from Captain Robbie Keane and Graham Zusi. On the downside my memories of Markus Holgersson last season were too fond when the Red Bulls defender didn't play only to be replaced in my line-up by Daniel Woolard who saw yellow and then was removed at halftime as United altered their formation bringing in James Riley and moving Chris Korb over to Woolard's spot. I also made the wrong call between my two bargain goalkeepers - Zac MacMath and Bill Hamid. Both lost by two goals but Hamid stopped a penalty and ended up looking as good as a fantasy goalkeeper can look losing 2-0. MacMath looked like you'd expect a keeper who lost 3-1 to look.

The week ended much better for the Top 5 finishers in our EPL Methadone Private League (you can still join by signing up for a team here, creating a team, and then joining the Private League 5633-1479). Kudos to the following teams:

  • Quarterback Style (Eva Hall) - 102 points
  • KFC Official (Kentucky FC) - 101 points
  • OKC City Slickers (Ryan Covey) - 97 points
  • Murder, Inc (Joshua Rowland) - 95 points
  • 2x MLS Champion (Brian Barrette) - 95 points
Surprisingly, only 2 of our top five managers had hat trick hero Mike McGee in their line-up but it comes as no surprise that the top team of the week featured the LA Galaxy's scorers McGee and Robbie Keane (as captain) along with Graham Zusi and Josh Williams. It is worth noting that Eva Hall's league-best team had no room for error with all three outfield substitutes getting zero minutes. It is a high risk, high reward strategy and in this case it worked out. It will be interesting to see how teams that use this strategy fare when bye weeks start forcing them to spend on transfers. [Please note I'm not making a value judgment but putting forth a word of caution].

Looking ahead to the upcoming week, the LA Galaxy, Houston Dynamo, and Seattle Sounders are all on byes leaving the following schedule:

That schedule leaves me looking hard to add San Jose attackers (the Red Bulls defense looked like it still needed some work, huh?), Sporting KC attackers at Toronto, and just about anyone from FC Dallas because Chivas USA looked like they should be in the USL.

I'll be back tomorrow to share my line-up going into the weekend.

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