MLS Fantasy Round 1 Team Reveals
Major League Soccer returns for another season! In this article we take a look at some MLS Fantasy Round 1 expert team reveals. Our experts reveal their teams for the first round, share their thoughts around captaincy and explain some of the rational behind their picks.
Our MLS Fantasy Round 1 Expert Team Reveals are vital when it comes to helping you build your squads for the round ahead. In MLS Fantasy players can select a new team every week so it could be very important to stay as up to date as possible to avoid falling behind the rest of the pack.
@dmpwright
Notes
- Inter Miami and RSL have a DGW in MLS Fantasy Round 1. So, their players should feature heavily in your teams.
- Vancouver are on a bye, so look to them for scrubs where possible.
- There doesn’t look to be a lot of value at the GK position this year. Budget will also be tight initially, so I probably won’t run two GKs for the first couple of weeks. With that in mind, I’ve gone with Drake Callender as my only GK, with Max Anchor as a scrub.
- I’m not expecting much defensively from either of the DGW teams. But, Inter Miami stand a slightly better chance than RSL of at least one clean sheet by virtue of their home game on Wednesday.
- In defence, I’ve paired Callender with Jordi Alba. I believe he offers better value than Julian Gressel – at least for Round 1.
- Kai Wagner and Álvaro Barreal are my other premium defenders and should do well at both ends of the pitch against Chicago and Toronto, respectively.
- My final defensive picks are Kyle Smith, who stands a good chance of a clean sheet at home to Montreal, and Mauricio Cuevas, who is a scrub. I can always downgrade Alba to Tomás Avilés should I need to free up funds to upgrade Smith.
- In midfield, I have loaded up on RSL assets and have taken both Pablo Ruiz and Diego Luna, who had a breakout year in 2023.
- My other three midfield picks are SGW players. Lucho Acosta is the reigning MLS MVP and makes Cincinnati tick. Both he and Facundo Torres have favourable home fixtures and set piece involvement, so should do well.
- Esmir Bajraktarevic is projected to start for New England while Dylan Borrero is out with injury and is a good value pick with a decent fixture.
- Jader O’Brian and Alexandru Mățan are also well priced and worth a look if they start at the weekend.
- Upfront, Lionel Messi and Cristian Arango are locks thanks to their DGW, with Messi likely to be my captain providing he starts on Wednesday.
- I may yet take a punt on Luis Suárez too. Although, I’m not convinced about his game time across Inter Miami’s two fixtures.
- I’d like to have taken Cucho Hernández too but have had to make do with Dante Sealy due to limited funds.
- Dallas are likely to be missing several of their starting forwards this week, making Sealy an ideal, low-risk value pick.
@MattSoccerTalk
Notes
- With both RSL and Miami on the DGW, it made sense to load up on players from those games.
- I stuck with the Miami defence combo of Callender and Aviles. This is because I see them conceding less than RSL, but also I see the attacking trio of Arango, Ruiz, and Luna putting a ton of pressure on both Miami and St. Louis. Historically, RSL is a tough team to shutout.
- Both Lucho Acosta and Barreal are no brainers for me. Toronto didn’t do much to improve their team this offseason and both of them are strong attacking threats.
- While Chicago did improve their roster this offseason, I see Wagner creating a ton from that left back position with a decent shout for a CS.
- I went very boom/bust with my bench. Minnesota finally have a head coach, but I see them struggling in Austin based off preseason performances.
- New England head coach Caleb Porter stated that Esmir Bajraktavic will have a prominent role this season and if he starts against DC, $5m has great potential for value gain.
- Finally, Torres is playing against one of the worst road teams of last season, Montreal. As their main man I could see him putting up a massive game.
- Captaining Messi on a DGW is very self explanatory.
@_FutboIOscar
Notes
- MLS Fantasy is finally back after a 3-month hiatus. It’s back with a bang as the first Gameweek is a double for Inter Miami and Real Salt Lake who both play twice.
- It’s also worth noticing that Vancouver are on a BYE this week. So, you could be looking at players from them for a keeperoo and Switcheroo.
- With the double gameweek in mind I’m loading up on doublers with Callender, Gomez and Messi from Inter Miami and Glad, Luna and Arango from Real Salt Lake.
- In defence, I’m looking at Alvaro Barreal as a proven fantasy option with a favourable matchup against Toronto. I’m also looking at Mbaizo from Philadelphia and new boy Omar Campos at LAFC who replaces Palacios.
- In midfield, Facundo Torres and Luciano Acosta combined for 48 goal contributions last year. Because of this they are must haves with both of them having favourable matchups in GW1.
- My last midfielder is Sweden international Emil Forsberg. I think he will be the Bulls main man this season.
- My GW1 captain will be Lionel Messi. This is unless he starts on the bench. Other players to consider for captaincy are Luna/Ruiz and Arango.
@Mahoney
Notes
- There is a big double with RSL and MIA this week. So, I am maxing out with three of each.
- Messi’s minutes in terms of a start will be really interesting as will Miami’s line-up .
- I have just one scrub to start to hopefully catch more price rises.
- I am going to have my Charlotte guy in, I believe in Copetti as the talisman to start and Malanda for Charlotte is a lockdown CB and will win a lot of headed duels hopefully.
- I will see how St. Louis do in year two but like I this home matchup for them.
@melvinmbabazi
Notes
- Lionel Messi (MIA; 10m) – Lionel Messi was Inter Miami’s top finisher in the Leagues Cup last season and has a DGW, most likely my captain this round.
- Cucho Hernandez (CLB; 9m ); Cucho Hernández came third in the hunt for the Audi Golden Boot last season and he normally launches numerous shots. He is playing at home vs Atlanta United FC and he stands out as perhaps the league’s most dangerous attacker.
- Luciano Acosta (CIN; 9m) – Luciano Acosta came second in the golden boot race with 17 goals and came fourth with 14 assists. He is one of the best midfielders in the game.
- Kai Wagner (PHI; 7.5m) – Wagner was high in the charts of MLS defenders for crosses last season and has a good game vs Chicago Fire FC this week.
Not sure on how some of the MLS Fantasy rules work? You can check out our rules article to help with that right here.
