MLS Fantasy Focus: Wright Stuff

One hundred twenty three is a lot of points, and that's what the leader this round, Arden Wanderers, put up, shaming us all. Thierry Henry (NY, $11.1) led the way with an armband-aided 38 points via a goal, two assists, and an earned penalty over two matches. His teammate, Roy Miller ($6.7) earned a clean sheet and notched an assist to defy everything we know about soccer and score 17 points in the same two games. Clint Dempsey (SEA, $10.7) continued his torrid run by scoring two goals and 12 points. Stop me if you've heard this before, but In It Toux Wynne It still leads overall.

Positional Leaders

Goalkeepers

Luis Robles (NY, $6.0) led all goalkeepers with 14 points with a clean sheet over two games. There was a 3-way tie for second involving Tally Hall (HOU, $6.1), Troy Perkins (MTL, $5.3), and Jon Busch (SJ, $5.4), each of whom earned 8 points, though just Hall missed out on a clean sheet. For DCU, Bill Hamid ($4.7) returned to the lineup and earned 4 points.

Defenders

Roy Miller's 17 points led all defenders, and while that's sinking in, Kosuke Kimura (NY, $5.6) was second with 12 points and a clean sheet, plus an assist. Three players tied for third and 11 points -- Darrius Barnes (NE, $5.9), and NY teammates Armando ($6.4) and Jamison Olave ($9.3.) Barnes had a clean sheet and an assist, while Armando and Olave each had clean sheets. United defenders were led by Bobby Boswell ($8.1) with 9 points, followed by Sean Franklin ($7.6) with 8, Christian Fernandez ($6.4) with 5, Jeff Parke ($6.7) with 3, and Chris Korb ($5.8) appeared for the first time this season with 1 point.

Midfielders

Seattle teammates Clint Dempsey and Lamar Neagle ($7.5) tied for first among midfielders with 12 points. Neagle's came with a goal and an assist. Dempsey has scored 52 points in his last 4 matches. Montreal's Felipe ($7.8) and New York's Dax McCarty ($7.8) tied for third with 9 points, Felipe with a goal and McCarty by virtue of playing twice. For D.C., Nick DeLeon ($6.8) was the leader with 6 points, Chris Rolfe ($6.9) followed with 5, and Perry Kitchen ($6.3) and Davy Arnaud ($6.8) scored 2, while Luis Silva ($7.1) returned to action to score 1.

Forwards

Bradley Wright-Phillips (NY, $7.5) scored a hat trick to earn 23 points and lead all scorers. Thierry Henry was second with his 19 points, and Fabian Espindola (DCU, $8.3) earned 16 points by scoring 2 goals, adding 1 assist, and 1 refusal to pass to an open Conor Doyle in favor of shooting from a sharp angle in pursuit of his hat trick which I can totally understand given the circumstances. Eddie Johnson ($9.5) put in his highest scoring game this year with 4 points, and Doyle ($6.3) scored 1 point.

Looking Ahead

Montreal is on bye, so bench all those Impact guys that you don't have (sorry, you might have Eric Miller.) Everyone else plays once, and games start on Saturday. RSL is away to winless Chicago this week, and the Fire will be without Quincy Amarikwa (red card suspension,) so I like both Nick Rimando ($6.2, 42 points) in goal, and Nat Borchers ($9.1, 39 points) in the back, Borchers especially if you have the suspended Aurelien Collin. In midfield, try on Lee Nguyen (NE, $8.4, 37 points), with goals in two consecutive games and 21 points in his last three games as the Revs travel to Toronto. At forward, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but Javier Espindola and his 53 points are leading all forwards and he hasn't scored less than 7 points in his last five games while being relatively cheap. United is going to winless Portland this week.

Everyone's Adding: G - [tie] Bobby Shuttleworth (NE, $5.0, 43 points, +151) / Zac MacMath (PHI, $5.4, 48 points, +151), D - Bobby Boswell (DCU, $8.1, 47 points, +302), M - Clint Dempsey (64 points, +1098), F - Obafemi Martins (SEA, $9.6, 48 points, +570)

Everyone's Dropping: G - Dan Kennedy (CHV, $4.5, 24 points, -203), D - Aurelien Collin (SKC, $9.9, 43 points, -333), M - Ricardo Clark (HOU, $7.3, 34 points, -518), F - Will Bruin (HOU, $8.4, 39 points, -412)