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If you’re like me, you watched DC’s beatdown of RSL and felt sick to your stomach. We all know what it felt like, and it was awful. Although as an MLS Fantasy nerd, there was a small silver lining in that I had Wayne Rooney on my fantasy team, so his three goals and one assist at least helped my week three points quite a bit. My only regret there is not picking him as my captain, but what can you do?
Week 3 fantasy recap
Rooney came out of week three as the league’s top performer in the fantasy world, racking up an impressive 23 points thanks to the nine-man Real Salt Lake squad that couldn’t keep him at bay. We also saw a big surprise in Ohio as FC Cincinnati took down the Portland Timbers by a score of 3-0 in their first-ever home MLS match-up. Both Kendall Waston and Mathieu Deplagne grabbed 14 points as they turned out to be a surprise in the top five overall from last week’s action.
MLS top performers in week 3
FW - $10.5m - Wayne Rooney: 23 points
FW - $8.7m - Alberth Elis: 19 points
DF - $5.5m - Gaston Sauro: 15 points
DF - $5.7m - Kendall Waston: 14 points
MF - $7.0m - Junior Moreno: 14 points
DF - $5.3m - Mathieu Deplagne: 14 points
The Real Salt Lake boys were, at best, underwhelming. Sure we can put together a top performers list, but I don’t think that title fits in this circumstance. Everton Luiz was the team’s high scorer with a whopping four points — earning two for his 90 minutes played, and two defensive bonus points.
Marcelo Silva topped the entire league for the worst performance, with -3 points thanks to his red card on top of conceding five goals. Jefferson Savarino wasn’t far behind, with -2 points after his red card as well.
RSL top performers in week 3
MF - $6.1m - Everton Luiz: 4 points
MF - $11.0m - Albert Rusnak: 3 points
DF - $6.2m - Nedum Onuoha: 3 points
MF - $6.8m - Kyle Beckerman: 3 points
DF - $5.5m - Aaron Herrera: 2 points
MF - $8.0m - Damir Kreilach: 2 points
The RSL Soapbox league had some insanely high scorers this week, with Krisha topping the week’s action with a whopping 123 points, taking them up to 236 total on the season. Welcome to all our new players!
RSL Soapbox league top performers in week 3
1) Krisha: 123 points (236 total)
2) Lil Sebastian: 102 points (244 total) *miss you in the saddest fashion
3) Rimando Rumble: 95 points (217 total)
4) BallsDeep: 87 points (225 total)
5) ATLiens2019: 86 points (190 total)
Not in our league? No worries, you can join by hitting this link or by entering league code Y7PKSD94 on the MLS Fantasy site. Come join us!
Week 4 fantasy preview
Around the league
Week four will prove to be a tough one, as the bulk of the league is on a bye due to the FIFA break. On top of that, a bunch of players from the teams that do have games are missing due to their respective international call-ups, so this week is gonna be a little tricky.
There are only five games to pick from which include FC Dallas vs. Colorado Rapids, New York Red Bulls vs. Orlando City SC, Philadelphia Union vs. Columbus Crew, LAFC vs. Real Salt Lake, and New England Revolution vs. FC Cincinnati to wrap the weekend up on Sunday.
Columbus will be missing some key cogs in Gyasi Zardes, Zack Steffen, and Wil Trapp as they were all called up by USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter for the upcoming friendlies against Ecuador and Chile. The Crew visit Philadelphia, who will also be hit hard by call-ups as they’re losing Derrick Jones, Andre Blake, Cory Burke, and Warren Creavalle.
FC Cincinnati will be missing a good chunk this week with Kendall Waston, Allan Cruz, Darren Mattocks, Frankie Amaya, and Alvas Powell all reporting for national team duty, while star striker Fanendo Adi looks to be out this week with an injury he suffered in last week’s 3-0 win over Portland. On the flip side of this match-up, New England got away pretty easily with only Justin Rennicks, Zachary Herivaux, and Gabriel Somi being called up by their national teams. Only one of those three have seen playing time this season, and that was Rennicks who went 45 minutes in week two.
That being said, New England would be a decent team to bank on against a depleted Cincinnati, as players like Carles Gil, Antonio Delamea, and Teal Bunbury are all expected to play. Gil specifically would be a good one to pick up, as he scored a brace on the road in Toronto last week for 12 points, while notching eight points in week one against FC Dallas. The 26-year-old already has three goals, which he did in only two games.
RSL at Banc of California
To be honest, of all these games, it seems as though LAFC would be a great team to bank on. Carlos Vela wasn’t called up by Mexico coach Tata Martino, so the home side will be largely intact minus a few injuries and absences. RSL will head out to California in hopes of salvaging some kind of result without a big chunk of their players. Albert Rusnak, Corey Baird, and Sam Johnson were all called up to their respective countries, while both Jefferson Savarino and Marcelo Silva will sit this one out after receiving red cards last week in DC.
On top of that, Justen Glad is still out with a broken toe, so it’s looking like Mike Petke might have to pull from the midfield to fill the hole in central defense, which means we’ll most likely see Nick Besler start next to Onuoha.
Frankly, I’ll be staying away from RSL players this week. It’s too risky for me between their depleted lineup and how they looked on the road last week in DC.
Top projected players for week 4
*according to MLSCheatsheet.com
FW - $11.8m - Carlos Vela: 11 points
DF - $6.0m - Gaston Sauro: 10 points
MF - $9.7m - Carles Gil: 9 points
MF - $8.0m - Daniel Royer: 7 points
DF - $7.7m - Harrison Afful - 6 points
Have any insights, questions, or feedback? Let us know in the comments! Also, don’t forget to sign up for the RSL Soapbox fantasy league by clicking right here or using league code Y7PKSD94.