This article is part of our DraftKings Fantasy Soccer series.
Welcome to RotoWire's renovated DraftKings article. We're going to examine two potential winning lineups for this weekend's slate and dive into the strategic side of lineup construction, while still presenting a bundle of great plays to target. Keep in mind that there are countless ways to build a winning DraftKings lineup, and these are just two approaches we love this week! Let us know what you think of the change!
Lineup No. 1: Fresh Legs
The busiest week of the season looms, with 14 teams in action Wednesday night and all but Orlando City and Chicago playing again on the weekend. It's been a packed schedule for many sides, and our first potential lineup will take advantage of some valuable mid-season rest. The two teams on the slate who did not play this past week are Columbus and Chicago, both of whom also have the benefit of a home match.
Let's first secure our forwards. Kei Kamara, scoreless in June but still the league's top goal scorer, is the first player I want to lock in. He'll see a New England team that played in nearly 90-degree weather outside of Washington, D.C. on Sunday. Columbus has had a rough stretch of performances, but Kamara's class hasn't evaporated. He'll be hungry to return to the score sheet and typically has one of the safer floors among forwards given his volume of shots. Consider that the Revolution have kept a clean sheet just once in their previous nine matches, and Kamara looks an even better option.
Next, Sebastian Giovinco. He's a top consideration every week and easier to afford now that DraftKings' pricing has granted us some surprise bargains. Seba makes every lineup look good, which means your opponents' probably have him too. However, passing on TFC's star remains the costliest maneuver you could consider week in and week out. We'll round out our forward group with Kennedy Igboananike. He fits our fresh legs strategy and has steadily improved in his time with the Fire. $4,500 is an absolute steal for a forward who has at least three shots in four straight starts, with two goals and an assist in that time frame.
Let's move to keeper, where Tally Hall's minimum $3,000 price tag will save us a sizable chunk of change. We're rolling out the heavy hitters, so the extra salary is great, but the match up at home against the Colorado Rapids is even better. It's a good week to pay up for defenders as well, and Waylon Francis and Joevin Jones are both speedy attacking fullbacks that can pay dividends in multiple ways. I encourage you to revisit these defender picks after you've finalized the midfield and see if you want to shift some salary to the attack, or put even more into a star defender.
Finally, we're left with the midfield. Federico Higuain is a juicy option that I am keen to pair with Kamara. The dup hasn't connected on the same night as frequently as investors would like, but I'm betting on the talent to come together soon. If you're strapped for salary, fellow Crew midfielders Justin Meram ($7,200) and Ethan Finlay ($7,000) come at a discount and are also good options. The last piece of the puzzle is Pedro Ribeiro, who continues to look good in limited action. He's bound to get on the field soon and I expect him to impress once more. You'll see Orlando City's lineup before roster lock, and plenty of pivots will be available should he begin on the bench once more (Cristian Roldan, Thomas, Will Johnson, Sebastian Lletget). In reality, the midfield values are vast this week and there are countless ways to spend the $13,000-plus we have budgeted there.
Devil's Advocate: We'll be pitting this lineup against others using three top forwards. With a value play in both the forward and midfield positions, while spending on defense, we could miss out on an offensive explosion. Columbus has been so poor lately that grabbing three of their players feels unnecessarily risky. Finally, everybody will have Hall, so perhaps the smart tournament play is to pay up for a differential in goal.
Why We'll Win: We have two of the league's highest scoring players lined up, and placed a premium on players who are rested and ready. Most daily fantasy players, to a fault, have a recency bias that will steer them toward players who helped them out just a few days ago rather than options from Columbus or Chicago. Defenders could be overlooked on a slate that lets the field afford their choice of offensive players, and we've grabbed a quality duo both playing at home.
Lineup No. 2: Ode to Riquelme and Messi
Wednesday doesn't just bring us a great slate of Major League Soccer, it's also a day to celebrate two of Argentina's greatest footballers. Major League Soccer has tapped its own fair share of Argentinian talents, and what better night to tee them up than on the birthday of Lionel Messi and Riquelme?
We'll start with the midfield, where Argentina truly dominates the positional ranks. No country has better supplied MLS with exciting attacking midfield talent, including America itself. Javier Morales, Christian Maidana and Diego Valeri all make fantastic plays this week, and I prefer them in that order. Real Salt Lake played their strongest game of the season against Sporting Kansas City and a bit of a hike to New York to play the struggling Red Bulls is not a scary proposition for Morales. He's been on quite the streak since returning from injury, and remains deadly on free kicks. Maidana and the Union will be eager to put their poor performance in Los Angeles behind them, and play the Sounders at their most vulnerable time. These guys have a great floor, but can also pile on the points, particularly with their passing prowess. Valeri has the highest ceiling of the three, but the L.A. Galaxy always pose a stiff challenge. I still like a rested Valeri to pull the strings for a surging Portland team.
At forward, Fabian Espindola fits the bill. He's been DC United's best player of late, and continues to make every player around him significantly more effective in the attack. Assists are pouring in (five in four-and-a-half matches), but goals will surely come. D.C. United is atop the Eastern Conference despite a busy schedule but constantly overlooked for fantasy purposes. We'll take advantage of that, with Espindola against a so-so Chicago defense. Giovinco isn't Argentinian, but he's probably buddies with former Juventus teammate Carlos Tevez, so let's dub him an honorary member of the lineup. The alternative is not using him, and I'd be leading you astray if I suggested that.
Our country of honor hasn't produced many fantasy-worthy MLS defenders, particularly now that Hernan Grana has defected from Columbus, so we'll simply grab some good values. Ambroise Oyongo has featured in this column before and is even cheaper now. I can't forget his rise as a Red Bull last season that saw him capably fill a midfield wing role. He has attacking chops and continues to grow with experience in Montreal. Luke Boden, at $3,300, could be the most popular pick of the slate. He has been getting up field with some regularity and should safely grab us a couple of crosses at a minimum. Orlando City has a good chance to shut out the Rapids, and we want to grab a piece of that. However, Tally Hall will be highly owned and we already used him in our previous lineup. To mix things up, I'll propose the steeply discounted Nick Rimando. The Red Bulls are without Sacha Kljestan (suspension) and Lloyd Sam (groin) for this match, and it's highly possible that their offense simply can't cope. Bradley Wright-Phillips remains dangerous despite having two penalty kicks saved this past weekend, but Rimando and the Salt Lake defense can hold the fort. Coincidentally, Rimando is legendary at saving penalties, and that would make for quite the show down if BWP gets a chance at redemption.
Alternatively, Higuain, Ignacio Piatti and Maxi Urruti fit our theme and also deserve consideration in this lineup. If you hate fun, and aren't into the whole Argentina narrative, then Joao Plata might be a good alternative forward choice to stack with Morales. RSL really did play tremendously against one of the top teams in the league, and the Red Bulls could have trouble with Plata's speed.
Devil's Advocate: We're missing some popular plays in Hall and Kamara, and should they perform as well as expected, we could be hurting. Using a midfielder in the flex might not maximize our value quite like a third forward would, even if it is the prolific Valeri. Is Oyongo truly deserving of such high consideration, or would we be better off investing more in our defense?
Why We'll Win: We can't go wrong with Major League Soccer's top playmakers. We truly do have five of the best, and they all add a high assist potential (something that can often go overlooked when chasing goals in daily fantasy). Fading Hall is a calculated differential strategy where we can really jump ahead of the pack should Colorado net a couple of goals. The soccer gods clearly favor Argentina on June 24, and in turn, they should favor us for honoring Messi and Riquelme's fellow countrymen with our daily fantasy lineups!
