Fantasy MLS: Saturday Cheat Sheet

The second of four consecutive MLS match days brings little in terms of tangible intrigue or excitement, but plenty of options for building a fantasy roster. The teams are working with different amounts of energy, with New England, Toronto, Houston and Philadelphia all having played Wednesday. Meanwhile, Seattle went 120 minutes on Tuesday. Montreal enters their home fixture well rested, but missing Laurent Ciman and Marco Donadel. Speaking of injuries, Toronto will be without three of their top five players, with Clint Irwin, Michael Bradley and Will Johnson all injured for extended periods of time.

MATCHES (EDT)

5:30 p.m: Montreal Impact v. New England Revolution
7:30 p.m: Toronto FC v. Seattle Sounders
9:00 p.m: Houston Dynamo v. Philadelphia Union

ODDS REPORT

EXPECTED CORNER TAKERS

Montreal Impact: Kyle Bekker, Lucas Ontivero
New England Revolution: Lee Nguyen
Toronto FC: Sebastian Giovinco
Seattle Sounders: Andreas Ivanschitz
Houston Dynamo: Boniek Garcia, Cristian Maidana
Philadelphia Union: Tranquillo Barnetta

PLAYER RECOMMENDATIONS

GOALKEEPER

Andre Blake, PHI at HOU: Fantasy owners may be concerned about Blake considering he's allowed three goals in each of the three MLS matches he's played since returning from Copa America. We also must include the victory against the league's hottest team of late, New York Red Bulls, on Wednesday night when Blake made five saves in a 2-1 victory. He's a major reason Philadelphia are a shocking success this year, and he could make a claim for being a top-five keeper in MLS. Houston have some capable attacking players but lack the punch that most other rosters boast. Take advantage of Blake's road-game pricing and hope that the better team prevails in this one.

Stefan Frei, SEA at TOR: If the home keepers are all a toss-up this week, why not just take a shot with the cheapest starting option that DraftKings is giving us? Seattle have been pretty poor in the back, but they have the tools to be a quality unit. Essentially, they're tasked with slowing down Sebastian Giovinco and not much else. Frei has been a top MLS keeper in the not-so-distant past and his team should get a boost with Clint Dempsey returning to the fold. They've lost five of six and should be hungry to turn the ship around against a depleted Toronto side. You could play it safer with Evan Bush for $1,300, but I don't think Frei is much of a step down.

DEFENDER

Ambroise Oyongo, MTL v. NER: While it's fairly difficult to predict Oyongo's fantasy outbursts, it's easy to see the quality he brings each game. With a home fixture against a Revolution side that likes to allow goals and whose fullbacks are susceptible to getting caught upfield, Oyongo could find plenty of room to work. Didier Drogba is still playing at a high level and provides a monolithic target for the fullback to whip some crosses into. He's averaging 10 points per game over his past five matches, and should at least approach that total again this weekend.

Jalil Anibaba, HOU v. PHI: If you can't quite afford the top tier of defenders, Anibaba should be a capable backup plan. The former Sporting Kansas City defender often provides a handful of crosses in addition to the typical defensive stats. His opponent, Philadelphia, are fairly susceptible on the counterattack and Anibaba is capable of taking advantage and springing an attacking teammate in on goal, even in the conservative Dynamo system. Few cheaper fullbacks exist on this slate, and Anibaba is fresh, having only played the second half of Houston's midweek match.

Dylan Remick, SEA at TOR: Will anybody notice if I keep copying Remick into my article as the third defender recommendation? He's extremely affordable, joins the attack when opportunity warrants it, and continues to earn the trust of manager Sigi Schmid as Joevin Jones moves higher up in the formation. Remick isn't a locked-in starter, but his price and recent minutes make him deserving of a spot on our radar.

MIDFIELDER

Ignacio Piatti, MTL v. NER: Piatti has a meeting with the New England Revolution. One of these things likes to score goals, and the other concedes them at a generous rate. The downside of Piatti is that he doesn't always accumulate peripheral points at the rate of other top midfielders, but anyone knocking him for that is nitpicking. Piatti is among the elite MLS goal scorers, including all of the forwards, and he could have an absolute field day against the Revolution. Piatti has five goals in his last five matches, and combined with Didier Drogba, the impactful duo will make whoever loses out in this week's New England goalkeeping carousel feel better about their spot on the bench.

Lucas Ontivero, MTL v. NER:Roland Alberg of Philadelphia is $300 cheaper on DraftKings and certifiably on fire with 83 fantasy points in his three matches since locking down a starting spot. However, Ontivero deserves a thorough look as well. He's put in a couple consecutive man of the match worthy performances and it's easy to see that his confidence has grown since entering Major League Soccer. I'm fairly confident in saying he has turned the corner permanently. Playing alongside Piatti and Drogba has a way of making things pretty easy on an attacking player, though don't tell that to Harry Shipp! Ontivero has staked his claim to a permanent spot in the Montreal starting 11 and at $4,900, he could be well on his way to staking a claim to all of my daily fantasy rosters too.

Jonathan Osorio, TOR v. SEA: Toronto's midfield is going to look a little unusual this week with Bradley and Johnson out. Even their direct replacement Benoit Cheyrou deserves a much needed rest and could get it. This puts youngsters like Osorio, Tsubasa Endoh and Marco Delgado at the forefront of players trying to lock down the center of the field. Osorio stepped up with two assists last weekend against Orlando and has always been a player the fans expected to take the final step to becoming a quality MLS talent. This may be his time. It's easy to argue that Delgado should play a little higher up the field and costs less, or that Endoh has more attacking potential, but if anyone is eschewing Alberg or Ontivero in their lineups, I think Osorio could be the differential to target.

FORWARD

Sebastian Giovinco, TOR v. SEA: Don't sleep on Giovinco simply because he's been somewhat quieter than usual. The Atomic Ant has been trying to orchestrate a symphony with middle school band members. In doing so, he's still been scoring around 20 fantasy points per game. That may not be quite enough when we're forking out $12,600 on DraftKings for him, but the safe floor he provides is undeniable. Seattle have not had much recent success and while Dempsey might spark their attack, he won't help much on defense. Drogba is an excellent play as well, and will certainly steal some of Giovinco's typically sky-high ownership levels, but I'm tempted to stick with "Old Faithful" instead.

Clint Dempsey, SEA at TOR: Do you think Dempsey is going to let his club lose it's sixth MLS match in seven tries? I don't. Deuce sat out the Wednesday U.S. Open Cup victory and should be somewhat rested despite playing his seventh game in the past month. Toronto FC are coming off of an emotional Canadian Championship performance, in which they lost the match 2-1 but hoisted the Cup on aggregate, and now must figure out how to field a comprehensive midfield without Johnson and Bradley. Alex Bono, the likely replacement for the injured Irwin, is getting his first MLS start, and he has nearly conceded more goals (three) than he has earned saves (four) in his limited action. Advantage: Deuce.

Jordan Hamilton, TOR v. SEA: There are some slim pickings for a cheap forward on this three-match slate. Chances are, with the midfield values, you won't need one. However, if you want to build your roster differently than most opponents, consider Hamilton. Fabian Herbers is likely out with injury and Mauro Manotas apparently isn't on Will Bruin's level yet, which leaves the Toronto FC rookie to be our dart throw this week. He scored on his only shot last weekend, gets to play beside Giovinco, and played just 17 minutes in Wednesday's Cup match. If you want to pair the expensive Lee Nguyen and Piatti in your midfield, a Hamilton goal could vault you to the top of the tournament standings. It's a roll of the dice, but differentiating yourself from template teams on a three-game slate could pay dividends.