Fantasy Free-Kick Week 26

Upset alert!

After months at the top of the WTR League standings Canadian Bacons has been knocked off of their perch. Fish and Chips FC has been chipping away at the lead for a few weeks now and used this round of DGW’s to their advantage and claim top spot. With an eleven point lead Fish and Chips FC have their work cut out for them to hold on for eight more rounds.

There were triple digit scores all over the league this round but there were no higher scores than Dave Hall’s Labadabadoo at 146. Dave squad for this round was a Union/Whitecap cocktail with a splash of Galaxy garnished with Revolution. Captaining Lee Nguyen in the midfield paid off with 40 points. Having Donovan’s 22 points in midfield didn’t hurt either. A monster 19 points from Zac MacMath capped off what was a strong performance from the defenders. Well done to Labadabadoo.

DOWN THE STRETCH

As stated earlier, there are just eight rounds left to play in the regular season. The nitty gritty, pull up your socks time is upon us. There are very few bye weeks and DGW’s left so there will be less need to overload your squad with Union players. Here is how the last leg of the season works out.

Chivas and Sporting KC are the only remaining teams with a bye. SKC have a bye in round 28 (next week). If you are making moves for KC players be aware of this. Chivas’ comes in the second to last round but is followed up with the last DGW of the season in the final round.

There are five DGW’s this round and just eleven for the rest of the season. This round LA, Montreal, New York, San Jose and Vancouver have two games. Of those five San Jose is the only with a DGW remaining on the schedule after this round, that comes in round 31 (away to Portland and RSL).

The remaining DGW’s are as follows:

Round 29 - Seattle (away to Dallas, host v Chivas)

Round 30 – Chicago (away to Philadelphia, host Montreal)

Round 31 – Houston (away to Toronto, host DC), San Jose, TFC (host Houston, away to New York).

Round 33 – Chivas (away to RSL, host SJ)

HOME COOKIN’

Most clubs play stronger at home so an extra home down the stretch is always nice. Most clubs have four games remaining but as with the DGW’s there are a few clubs that get a little bit more "gravy".

New York and Philadelphia both have five home games left in the season. As it turns out both clubs are in a tight playoff race in the East.

On the other hand Columbus, DC, New England, Portland, RSL, San Jose, SKC and Vancouver have just three.

One other scheduling tidbit is that while LA have four home games remaining they do have three straight home games after this round.

VIEW FROM THE BUNKER

While most are down on TFC at the moment due to their current slump it isn’t over yet for the Reds. In terms of fantasy TFC still have a lot to offer. As mentioned earlier TFC is one of the few teams that will still have a DGW left after this round.

Looking at the schedule as a whole, TFC get some matchups that they can take advantage of. TFC doesn’t typically travel well but Chicago is a team that a motivated TFC should be able to exploit for fantasy points. Home dates with Chivas, Houston and Montreal are also all games in which TFC should produce fantasy goodness.

Matches in LA, New York and home against Portland will all likely be land mines if TFC play the way they have thus far under Vanney. While the last game of the season in New England could be interesting. If the Revolution go on a bit of a run like they did earlier in the season perhaps they distance themselves from the rest of the pack in the East and the last match is of little importance for them. Of course if that is the case TFC likely would be just going through the motions as well.

Here are the top 10 in the WTR League: