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The Sorare Academy offers Fantasy managers a chance to win real prizes, as well as filling the boredom during an otherwise football-free summer period.
A total of 15 managers secured a prize last week. Top of the leaderboard was manager Kerpeten with this team:
Now, our guest writer Frip will take us through the fixtures for this coming weekend. You can find him on Twitter posting regular MLS injury, transfer and other news here.
Once you’ve read his tips below you can enter your own team for free ahead of the Friday deadline at 11am BST.
It’s Independence Day weekend in the US, which means we get a slightly unusual set of fixtures due to the four July 4 matches on Monday. Let’s get into it.
Saturday favourites on the road
On Saturday we get Seattle at Toronto and LAFC at Vancouver. Both of those games slightly favour the away team and both favourites also play midweek, which is why I would be wary of rotation in these games.
Players like Jordan Morris, Nicolas Lodeiro, Brian Rodriguez or Cristian Arango can pay off big as long as they start. If you fancy the home teams, Vancouver’s Javain Brown scores great all-around bonus points and should be quite busy against LAFC’s attack. On the home attacking end, you could pick up two Canadians in Lucas Osorio and Jonathan Cavallini, who have done well recently. There’s something to be said here about picking Canadian players on America’s holiday weekend, but I digress…
Star-studded Sunday Fixtures
Moving on to a busier Sunday we have some more exciting fixtures for Sorare managers:
- Atlanta United at NYCFC
- Charlotte FC at Houston Dynamo
- Portland Timbers at Nashville SC
- Cincinnati FC at New England Revolution
Some of MLS’s brightest stars get strong home fixtures here: Taty Castellanos, Darwin Quintero, Hany Muktar, and Carles Gil. If one of those players sticks out for you, take a look at this tweet by Tom Bogert:
Quintero has been delivering whenever he’s been on the pitch this season. Houston presents a strong opportunity because they will face a Charlotte FC squad, which not only plays midweek, but is also currently battling a Covid outbreak. Defender Adam Lundkvist is tied for the highest average score over the past five games (72) and you can pair him up with ‘keeper Steve Clark to really back Houston’s defence. Sebastian Ferreira is another forward option if you want to avoid the risk of 34-year-old Quintero possibly getting rotated.
Mukhtar and Gil are currently the most in-form midfielders, averaging 68 points per game over their last five. Gil ‘only’ has one goal and one assist in his last five since the departure of Buksa, but a leaky Cincinnati defence at home is too good to pass up.
Mukhtar makes an even stronger case for himself as captain based on his form, as he has been involved in seven of Nashville’s 11 goals in their past six games. Furthermore, the Timbers defense sits in the bottom half of the league when it comes to goals allowed. C.J. Sapong would be a good forward pairing if you want to double down on Nashville.
At the other end of the field, Nashville’s defence will be busy against a team that scored a league-leading 14 goals in the past six. That brings up strong potential for some on-field fireworks to go along with the off-field festivities but makes a clean sheet rather difficult for them.
Monday Fireworks
Colorado Rapids welcome Austin FC to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Only DC United have given up more goals in the past six games than Austin’s 11 and Diego Rubio, Jack Price (keep an eye on injury updates), and co could add to that tally. The Rapids don’t have a talisman-like player and the points are usually spread out – so this is a riskier play overall. Keep an eye out for goalkeeper Abe Rodriguez, who will likely start instead of William Yarbrough due to injury.
FC Dallas host Inter Miami on Monday. Midfielder Paul Arriola is just behind Gil and Muktar when it comes to form, having scored eight goals in as many games. There are not as many obvious forward picks this week, which makes Jesus Ferreira interesting. He plays more as a no. 10 and thereby comes with the all-around scoring upside that could carry him into the 80s-90s with a goal contribution.
Miami have found some form recently so Arriola and Ferreira aren’t complete shoo-ins. We haven’t talked much about goalkeeping options for the weekend yet and Dallas’ Martin Paes is a very strong option there.
MY TEAM
Below is the team I’ll be entering – barring any midweek injuries or other news:
Enjoy your weekend, whether you’re celebrating an Independence Day or not, and don’t forget to enter before the 11am Friday deadline!
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1 year, 9 months ago
LESGO!