MLS Fantasy Rankings: Week 21

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Updated on July 26, 2019 5:42PM EST

The rankings below are based on Major League Soccer's official fantasy game and cover all games in Week 21. While they can be used for DFS purposes, they are done with a focus on the league's season-long game.

If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below, or hit up JD on Twitter @dfsMLS.

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Forwards
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Carlos Vela	LAFC v. ATL	12.5	Vela is virtually matchup-proof at this point, but even if he weren't Atlanta have been weaker defensively over the past handful of games.
2	Brian Fernandez	POR v. LA	10.9	Jozy has the better fixture and Zlatan is fresh off of a hat trick, but Fernandez and the Timbers are finding ways to win games. I'm impressed every time I watch Fernandez.
3	Jozy Altidore	TOR v. FCC	10.5	A healthy Pozuelo gives Jozy an arguement for #1 spot, while no Pozuelo would leave me bumping him down a few notches.
4	Heber Araujo dos Santos	NYC v. SKC	9.5
5	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	LA at POR	10.5	Portland have gutted out some impressive efforts defensively here in mid-season, but it's tough to envision them stopping a relatively healthy Galaxy side, with Zlatan carrying some momentum from last week.
6	Carlos Darwin Quintero	MIN v. VAN	10.0	Quintero has been back on the score sheet lately, but he's still not quite back to picking up all the underlying things that made him a reliable fantasy force.
7	Josef Martinez	ATL at LAFC	12.5	It's tough to put somebody in such great form this low, but the opponent is intimidating and we have better options.
8	Gustavo Bou	NE v. ORL	9.8	He could be higher in the rankings this week, but I'd rather not overreact to the new kid on the block quite yet. Let's see how this Revs formation starts to shake out after Bruce threw something a little different onto the field last game.
9	Chris Wondolowski	SJ v. COL	7.2
10	Diego Rossi	LAFC v. ATL	10.7
11	Wayne Rooney	DC at CHI	11.1
12	Raul Ruidiaz	SEA at HOU	11.2
13	Adama Diomande	LAFC v. ATL	9.0
14	Jesus Ferreira	DAL v. RSL	6.8	Now that we have the star talent out of the way in that top-13, Ferreira would make for a pretty good cheap third forward.
15	Kacper Przybylko	PHI at MTL	8.0
16	Mason Toye	MIN v. VAN	6.5	Not guaranteed to start and I don't think he's part of an optimal Minnesota trio for our fantasy teams, either, given their chances of keeping a clean sheet.
17	Jordan Morris	SEA at HOU	8.6
18	C.J. Sapong	CHI v. DC	7.3
19	Dominique Badji	DAL v. RSL	6.9
20	Kei Kamara	COL at SJ	7.9

Midfielders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Alejandro Pozuelo	TOR v. FCC	11.4	I'm skeptical he returns from his ankle injury in a game TFC should be able to win without him, but if he's fit enough to play then he has to be in your lineup.
2	Vako	SJ v. COL	8.2	When a player puts up back to back double-digit shot outings on a team that is confidently mowing down opponents, I'm just going to get out of the way and glue them to the top of the rankings.
3	Carles Gil	NE v. ORL	11.8	Stock is high on a rising Revs group. With a potential shift away from his central positioning in favor of Bou, I am keeping a close eye on Gil and whether his influence remains quite as immense as it has been.
4	Cristian Espinoza	SJ v. COL	8.9
5	Magnus Eriksson	SJ v. COL	9.2	The Quakes have to considered heavily in this matchup, and not using all three spots seems like a mistake.
6	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA at HOU	12.5	With Manotas on the way out and Elis serving a suspension, Seattle are primed to take three road points here.
7	Maximiliano Moralez	NYC v. SKC	12.1	Huge fan of Maxi this week and every week, but there's some stiff competition above here and SKC, even this version of them, are capable of clogging up an away game.
8	Diego Valeri	POR v. LA	11.7
9	Eduard Atuesta	LAFC v. ATL	11.2
10	Jonathan Osorio	TOR v. FCC	8.8	I'm going to cheat and also include Michael Bradley here - a few spots under Osorio, but I wanted to squeeze some other guys into the rankings.
11	Saphir Taider	MTL v. PHI	9.9	Piatti returned to action on Wednesday and scored, but Taider should still be front and center for much of the match this weekend.
12	Marco Fabian	PHI at MTL	8.9
13	Nicolas Gaitan	CHI v. DC	9.7	Consider me late to the Gaitan is somewhat unpredictable on a weekly basis party.
14	Kaku	NYRB v. CLB	8.5
15	Daniel Royer	NYRB v. CLB	9.1
16	Sebastian Blanco	POR v. LA	10.7
17	Jan Gregus	MIN v. VAN	9.8	Heavy favorite? Check. Some set pieces? Check. Midfield boss? Check.
18	Nani	ORL at NE	9.1
19	Pity Martinez	ATL at LAFC	9.8	I realize the matchup is poor, but Pity is coming off of a big game against DC United, scores or assists more often than he doesn't, and Atlanta feel up for this high profile match. If I had unlimited budget, he would be on my bench Friday night. Since I should be ranking responsibly, he comes in marginally lower.
20	Paxton Pomykal	DAL v. RSL	8.8	Seems about 50/50 to return this weekend, but if he does the matchup is pretty good.

Defenders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Romain Metanire	MIN v. VAN	7.0	Best blend of offense and clean sheet chance this weekend if you can afford it.
2	Ike Opara	MIN v. VAN	8.4	I would not pay $8.4 for Ike at this point in the season, but more power to you if you can squeeze it!
3	Omar Gonzalez	TOR v. FCC	7.5	FCC have a negative 21 goal differential on the road this year.
4	Hassani Dotson	MIN v. VAN	5.9
5	Tommy Thompson	SJ v. COL	6.7
6	Nick Lima	SJ v. COL	5.1	Make sure you budget a little extra in case he doesn't start, but I like this value a good deal.
7	Auro	TOR v. FCC	6.5
8	Michael Amir Murillo	NYRB v. CLB	6.0	Columbus have been both dreadful and offensively unadventurous on the road this year and things aren't particularly looking up.
9	Anton Tinnerholm	NYC v. SKC	7.1
10	Ronald Matarrita	NYC v. SKC	6.1
11	Florian Jungwirth	SJ v. COL	7.0
12	Aaron Long	NYRB v. CLB	7.0
13	Michael Boxall	MIN v. VAN	6.9
14	Reto Ziegler	DAL v. RSL	7.2	Dallas may fly under the radar this week as a team to get slight defensive exposure to.
15	Ryan Hollingshead	DAL v. RSL	8.0
16	Justin Morrow	TOR v. FCC	5.7
17	Walker Zimmerman	LAFC v. ATL	6.9
18	Guram Kashia	SJ v. COL	6.0
19	Antonio Delamea	NE v. ORL	6.4
20	Reggie Cannon	DAL v. RSL	5.7

Goalkeepers
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Vito Mannone	MIN v. VAN	6.5
2	Daniel Vega	SJ v. COL	6.0
3	Quentin Westberg	TOR v. FCC	6.5
4	Luis Robles	NYRB v. CLB	5.8
5	Matt Turner	NE v. ORL	5.4
6	Jesse Gonzalez	DAL v. RSL	6.6
7	Sean Johnson	NYC v. SKC	5.9
8	Tyler Miller	LAFC v. ATL	6.0
9	Steve Clark	POR v. LA	6.6
10	Bill Hamid	DC at CHI	6.2

Value Rankings
(forwards and midfielders under $7.5, defenders under $6.0; not ranked above)
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Alexander Ring	NYC v. SKC	7.5
2	Juan Agudelo	NE v. ORL	7.0	Depending on the starting lineup, both Agudelo and Diego Fagundez could be values. There may not be a place for them in a suddenly-crowded midfield, though.
3	Kemar Lawrence	NYRB v. CLB	5.5
4	Cristian Casseres	NYRB v. CLB	6.8
5	Bryan Acosta	DAL v. RSL	6.4	If Pomykal is out, I like Acosta a little more.
6	Andrew Farrell	NE v. ORL	5.2
7	Marc Rzatkowski	NYRB v. CLB	6.9
8	Tsubasa Endoh	TOR v. FCC	4.7	Pretty good chance he bumps back to the bench this game, but it depends on the health of some Minnesota midfielders.
9	Chase Gasper	MIN v. VAN	4.8	Good chance he goes back to the bench, but if not the price is tasty.
10	DeJuan Jones	NE v. ORL	5.0

Captain Rankings
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Carlos Vela	LAFC v. ATL	12.5
2	Alejandro Pozuelo	TOR v. FCC	11.4
3	Brian Fernandez	POR v. LA	10.9
4	Jozy Altidore	TOR v. FCC	10.5
5	Vako	SJ v. COL	8.2