Look for bargains, find defenders who score and whatever you do, don’t pick up defensive midfielders.
These are some of the rules to live by when playing a soccer fantasy league. Tens of thousands of wannabe general managers around the United States participate in the two most popular MLS leagues, Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Soccer and Major Fantasy League Soccer.
Unlike the old days, when baseball fantasy leagues were played via snail mail, modern day fantasy leaguers play on the Internet.
A fantasy league is a game in which fans put together teams of real players and earn or lose points depending on how those players do each week.
Some fantasy leagues offer prizes to the participants with the most points. The true lure of fantasy leagues for fans is competition against friends and co-workers and, perhaps, the chance to prove they know more about sports than professional general managers.
Peter Wiltis a professional general manager. The Chicago Fire GM played in a baseball fantasy league long before he joined the Fire and joined the Yahoo MLS fantasy league in 1999. He ended the season ranked around No. 10,000. He’s not involved this season in Yahoo’s league, which has more than 60,000 participants this year.
Wilt enjoys the camaraderie and social aspect of fantasy sports.
“I remember at [Chicago’s] expansion draft [in 1998] at the top of the John Hancock Building,” Wilt said. “I was with [Fire coach] Bob Bradley and my assistant, Allison Holmstrom, at the time. I remember we had a big board. I was leaning over to Allison and said, ‘This is just like my fantasy baseball draft, except there’s no cigars and if you pick a player they really have to move.'”
Wilt never expected to see fantasy soccer come about.
“It’s a credit to the sport and to the tens of thousands of fans who are devoted enough to follow the sport through fantasy leagues,” he said.
Yahoo’s MLS league, called Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Soccer (soccer.fantasysports.yahoo.com/mls), is officially endorsed by MLS and is arguably the most popular soccer fantasy league in the United States.
Another popular league based on MLS is Major Fantasy League Soccer (www.MFLS.com).
Strategy. Many leagues, such as Yahoo’s MLS and English Premiership leagues and MFLS, are free to enter. Some charge a small fee.
Most have a salary cap, such as the player salaries offered by MFLS and the 100-unit cap of Yahoo. As in real life, fantasy teams can’t afford 11 MLS all-stars, so participants have to balance a few high-scoring stars with cheap players, usually young college products.
Picking unknown foreign players, such as Kansas City’s Dane, Miklos Molnar, and Tampa Bay’s Senegalese forward, Mamadou Diallo, can be a shrewd investment. By contrast, well-known older stars like the MetroStars German defender Lothar Matthaeus and San Jose’s Iranian midfielder Khodadad Azizi can be costly and offer little payoff.
Defensive midfielders may contribute a lot to their real-life teams but don’t do much in fantasy leagues. D.C.’s Richie Williams, L.A.’s Danny Pena and Chicago’s Chris Armas are all industrious players, but if they don’t score much, they are basically high-priced defenders.
Defenders don’t earn many points for playing good defense. Indeed, players lose points for fouls, yellow and red cards and own goals.
On the other hand, defenders who score, such as Chicago’s Lubos Kubik, Colorado’s Marcelo Balboa and the Los Angeles Galaxy’s Greg Vanney, are valuable.
Goalkeepers earn points for saves, shutouts and wins and ties. Giving up goals and losing hurts. This year, Tony Meola has been the best MLS keeper for fantasy leaguers because of his long goalless streak and stellar record.
Research. For the serious players, fantasy leagues require a time investment each week, perusing league and club sites, as well as newspapers for information.
Serious fantasy leaguers must do research before setting their lineups for each week. Some key questions: Who’s out because of injuries or national team commitments? Who’s playing at a new position?
Perfect example: After being moved from defense to midfield, New England’s Ted Chronopoulos scored twice in a 2-1 win over Los Angeles and another goal in a 2-0 win over Miami.
Sometimes participants just go with their favorite players or teams. The Fire’s Wilt always tried to go with the best players, but if equally talented Chicago players were available, he said, “I gave the benefit of the doubt to the Chicago players.”
Although he didn’t win the Fire’s fantasy league group – he came in second – Wilt enjoyed the experience.
“Here I am a general manager of an MLS team and I was a general manager of a Yahoo MLS fantasy team,” he said. “It was fun.”
by Soccer America associate editor Dean Caparaz