MLS Fantasy Challenge: Week 22 line-up

I'm switching captains to De Rosario since Donovan has swine flu. I might remove him altogether depending on his status in the injury report.

Here is what's going on in this and the coming weeks: this week Colorado, New England, and San Jose are off; next week Chicago, New England, Los Angeles, and Seattle play twice, while Columbus is off; in week 25 only Colorado, D.C., Dallas, Kansas City, Los Angeles, and Toronto play, all of the rest of the teams are off. That is certainly a lot to think about and plan for.


Changes:
In: Jon Busch, Denis Hamlett, Stuart Holden
Out: Pat Onstad , Dominic Kinnear, Chris Pontius

The rationale for these changes is that I think that Chicago has the best match-ups over the next two weeks. The Fire always perform well on the road and Kansas City has struggled recently and fired their coach. They also will be without two of their main offensive weapons, Claudio Lopez and Davy Arnaud.

Then the Fire play twice the following week, both of which are at home. They also have the best match-ups out of the four teams that play twice next week, with one game against L.A. and another against the Rapids.

I added Pontius looking forward to week 25, when six teams play. So far I have seven guys who will be playing that week. So I'll try to add a few more in the coming weeks. I would have liked to have kept Holden because he has been on fire, but I needed some money to make changes (both Busch and Hamlett are more expensive than Onstad and Kinnear). I didn't want to get rid of my other expense guys (De Rosario, Donovan, Blanco, Montero) because they either play twice in 23 or are on one of the few teams that play during week 25.

I don't like playing a 3-5-2, and I would have liked to have added Guillermo Barros Schelotto, but he is just coming off injury (maybe coming off the bench) and Columbus doesn't play in week 23 or 25.

Goalkeeper:
Jon Busch - The Fire are away against Kansas City, who haven't won a league match in a month and are coming off and 6-0 beat down by FC Dallas (who aren't very good themselves). Busch should have a good chance at a shutout considering that the Wizards will be without Claudio Lopez and Davy Arnaud.

Defenders:
Eddie Lewis - Continues to play in the midfield although he is listed as a defender. L.A. is at home against Seattle, who haven't scored in the last three matches, so Lewis has a chance for shutout points as well.

Omar Gonzalez - Home vs. Seattle. L.A. is undefeated in its last six league matches and shutout their opponents in three of those games.

Tyrone Marshall - Seattle has a pretty good defense, but their offense has struggled recently. I'm not counting on them shuting out L.A. this week, but I'll keep Marshall around because he plays twice in week 23.

Midfielders:
Cuauhtemoc Blanco - As mentioned above, I like this match-up. I also like that Chicago plays twice next week.

Dwayne De Rosario - I regretted leaving him out of my line-up in week 20 and I'm not going to make the same mistake. I hate picking player who are playing against D.C., but Toronto is at home and I think De Rosario can produce.

Brad Davis - He was a big disappointment last week, hopefully he can redeem himself this week when Houston travels to Real Salt Lake. Real Salt Lake has really been unimpressive this year after having a performed pretty well last year.

Marco Pappa - Away against Kansas City. He has been on a five game drought, but this is the perfect game for him to get back on track.

Amado Guevara - It's been seven games since he has scored or assisted, but he is still the fifth highest points earnering midfielder and he is so cheap at only $175K.

Forwards:
Fredy Montero - After scoring in five straight games, he is in the midst of a three game drought. He'll have atough challenge away against L.A. this week, but he'll get two chances to add to his goal total next week.

Landon Donovan - L.A. is home against Seattle, which should be a tough match-up against a good defense and a great 'keeper. Put Donovan has been consistent scoring or assisting in all but four games this season. (He's apparently got swine flu, so beware, I might still remove him from my team)

Coach:
Denis Hamlett - Away at K.C. this week and then two games next week, that could add up to big points (or not if he's like Kinnear was last week).

Bench: Steve Ralston, Conor Casey, Chris Pontius

Make sure you check out the injury list: http://web.mlsnet.com/stats/injuries (on Friday too), and the discipline list: http://web.mlsnet.com/stats/discipline.jsp.

GK- Will Hesmer (CLB)
Home vs. FC Dallas

Defense-
Eddie Lewis (LA)
Home vs. Seattle
Chad Marshall (CLB)
Home vs. FC Dallas
Bakary Soumare (CHI)
Away vs. Kansas City.

Midfield-
Cuauhtemoc Blanco (CHI)
Away vs. KC
Marco Pappa (CHI)
Away vs. KC
Dwayne De Rosario (TOR)
Home vs. D.C. (Capt.)
Amado Guevara (TOR)
Home vs. D.C.

Forward-
Guillermo Barros Schelotto (CLB)
Home vs. FC Dallas, risky pick with him just coming off injury.
Landon Donovan (LA)
Home vs. Seattle (He's apparently got swine flu, so beware, I might still remove him from my team)
Luciano Emilio (DC)
Away vs. Toronto. I had Angel here but he might miss the game due to a concussion.

Coach- Robert Warzycha (CLB)
Home against FC Dallas. I really like CLB's chance and I would have liked to pick some of their guys for my regular team, but I don't like that they don't play in week 23 or 25.

Comments, questions, suggestions? I have $91K in cap space still. Thoughts, ideas anyone?