This article is part of our The Armband series.
There were plenty of points to go around in Round 9 of the MLS season with five teams scoring thrice and usual sides like Sporting Kansas City and Orlando City securing clean sheets. Still, it wasn't guaranteed that if you captained big names, you would succeed. Clint Dempsey and David Villa were among the stars to not find the score sheet even though their teams each scored three times (Villa was a surprise absence due to an illness). Instead, the leading forward turned out to be Juan Agudelo, who scored twice at Seattle, finishing with more fantasy points than his previous double gameweek.
And that's the kind of week it was, with Jack Harrison leading the midfielders, while Romain Alessandrini and Miguel Almiron did nothing in their respective home matches. Maybe this is a little harder than we thought, unless you took the defensive route and captained an SKC or Orlando defender/goalie.
With four doubles in Round 10, the best captain choices will likely be from those teams. It's also worth noting, the games begin Wednesday, making it another early deadline.
Sporting (v. New York, at Minnesota) is the first team to consider with their back line and Tim Melia serious contenders for the armband. If you're against that, Benny Feilhaber may be the better bet ahead of Dom Dwyer. Feilhaber has been effective since a return from injury and has two goals and one assist in his last four matches, not to mention the added bonuses for defensive and attacking purposes. The Red Bulls are on a three-game winning streak, but they have been a different team on the road, allowing nine goals in four matches. As for Minnesota, they just lost 1-0 at home to San Jose, so shutting them out is a possibility.
Orlando City (at Toronto, at Houston) leads the league with 18 points, but won't be as easy to trust with two difficult road matches. If you really want to mix things up, Kaka could be in the mix, but Cyle Larin would probably be the best route. Outside of them, it may be best to avoid captaining Orlando players despite being first in the table.
Toronto (v. Orlando, at Seattle) could be one of the more attractive teams, mainly because it looks like Sebastian Giovinco has returned to last year's levels and will likely be the most popular captain pick for the week. It's almost a guarantee that he'll reach 10 fantasy points, but Jozy Altidore could be the differential play after he scored Toronto's only two goals last match. Justin Morrow is their priciest defender, though Eriq Zavaleta has been just as good and could be a sneaky play. Then again, that's banking on Toronto to hold Orlando scoreless because that probably isn't happening against the Sounders.
For the fourth team on a double, the Red Bulls (at Sporting, at Philadelphia) will be a tricky team to back, mainly because they've been a much different team on the road as opposed to home. After winning at Atlanta in the opener, they were handled by Seattle and Houston on the road before losing 1-0 at Orlando. This team could easily be shutout in Kansas City, while the Union are coming off a match in which they held Los Angeles scoreless. Sacha Kljestan is the guy to focus on due to consistency, whereas Bradley Wright-Phillips hasn't surpassed seven fantasy points in a match even with four goals on the season.
As for the rest, Villa is back home against an Atlanta back line that just allowed three to D.C. United. The Galaxy are home against Chicago, but they remain incredibly hard to back given their last performance. The Earthquakes could grab a couple goals against Portland with Anibal Godoy remaining a value play. Nicolas Lodeiro may be a little expensive for having one match, but who's going to oppose using him at this point?
The two best matches for teams without a double may be D.C. against Montreal and Columbus hosting New England. The Impact are still struggling on the defensive side and the Revs are in that same boat after losing a 3-0 lead at Seattle. Of course, you'd be crazy to back anyone from D.C. for captaincy this week, but if you did, Luciano Acosta would be the choice. Columbus is where some sneaky plays could come in from Ola Kamara (five goals) to Justin Meram (four goals, three assists) and Federico Higuain (two goals, four assists). Obviously, it'd be a big leap of faith to back one of them over the likes of Feilhaber or Giovinco.
