Fantasy Focus: Two-Man Midfield

In a generally low-scoring round, #Gio’d led all with 77 points. Benny Feilhaber (SKC, $11.6) led the team with 14 points on a goal and an assist. Captain Nicolas Lodeiro (SEA, $11.8) had an assist and 12 points, while Jonathan Campbell (CHI, $5.1) had a clean sheet and 9 points. !BL4CKnRED-2014Champ is still the overall league leader.

Positional Leaders

Goalkeepers

Three net-minders tied at the top with 8 points — Sean Johnson (CHI, $5.8), Steve Clark (CLB, $5.7), and Nick Rimando (RSL, $6.4), with each of them claiming clean sheets. DCU’s Bill Hamid ($6.3) scored 3 points.

Defenders

Jamison Olave (RSL, $7.7) posted a goal and a clean sheet on the way to 13 points and the defensive lead, while David Mateos (ORL, $6.3) had a clean sheet and 10 points. Four players joined Jonathan Campbell in a five-way tie with 9 points, all with clean sheets — Hector Jimenez (CLB, $5.3), Nicolai Naess (CLB, $7.6), David Horst (HOU, $7.3), Jefferson Mena and (NYC, $7.2). United’s defense was led by both Steve Birnbaum ($7.9) and Taylor Kemp ($8.0) with 5 points, followed by Bobby Boswell ($8.2) with 3.

Midfielders

Seattle’s Cristian Roldan ($5.9) shared the midfield and overall lead with Benny Feilhaber with 14 points. Roldan had a goal and an assist. David Accam (CHI, $9.3) scored 13 points on a goal and assist for third. D.C.’s midfield was led by Marcelo Sarvas ($7.2) and Lloyd Sam ($9.3) with 8 points, followed by Patrick Nyarko ($7.3) with 3 points, Jared Jeffrey ($5.3) with 2, and both Nick DeLeon ($6.3) and Lamar Neagle ($8.0) with 1.

Forwards

Clint Dempsey (SEA, $11.0) scored twice for 13 points and the positional lead, followed by Bradley Wright-Phillips (NYR, $11.6), who scored 12 points on a goal and an assist. Three forwards scored a goal for a tie with 8 points — David Villa (NYC, $12.4), Jozy Altidore (TOR, $9.5), and Sebastian Giovinco (TOR, $13.7). Patrick Mullins ($6.4) led the United forwards with 7 points, followed by Luciano Acosta ($8.6) with 4 points, and Kennedy Igboananike (CHI, $7.9) with 1 point.

Looking Ahead

Eight teams are on bye for this mid-week round — Colorado, Dallas, NYC, the Red Bulls, Portland, RSL, SKC, and Vancouver. Everyone else plays on Wednesday night. Why this wasn’t made into a 1-week round with 12 two-gamers is curious. At any rate, here are the best of the rest: Go with Stefan Frei (SEA, $6.1) in goal at Houston, and Daniel Steres (LA, $5.5) in defense at Chicago. I’m afraid Ignacio Piatti (MTL, $11.4) is a good bet in the midfield at home against DCU, and I like Cyle Larin (ORL, $9.7) at home against Toronto.