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Ah yes, April 20, 2018, a day that looms large for many as the day that comes before Atlanta United plays against the LA Galaxy. Atlanta will roll into LA where fans will pack the bowl at StubHub Center to see the teams light it up on Saturday night. Before that though, take a look at some soccer news and notes from yesterday.
Onto the Dirt...
Homegrown
Zlatan’s takeover of America continued yesterday as he appeared on the Dan Patrick show and explained that if he wasn’t married he would invest in American soccer.
"I have my wife, I got my two kids. If I was single I would spread some investments here in the US and you would have future legends in the soccer. But sorry I’m already occupied by my wife and two kids." - @Ibra_official on how he could develop soccer in the US pic.twitter.com/4slUSF8PlF
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) April 19, 2018
The parade of underachieving European stars who seem poised to take America by storm is gaining another roomered member - Marouane Fellaini could be headed to MLS or China. So far MLS has lost out to Iniesta and Javier Mascherano going across the Pacific.
Nipun Chopra over on SocTakes has a look at lower division soccer ownership and the challenges of running teams that aren’t in MLS. It is well worth a read.
Dutchie
Everton is wrapping up another unremarkable mid-table season. The team reached out to fans for a survey and the results indicated that fans were less than happy with Big Sam. Turns out, he’s displeased with them too! He probably wishes he could visit Ronald Koeman in Holland right about now.
Drawing against NYCFC wasn’t great, but at least Atlanta United isn’t Real Madrid. This was the worst home season for the club since 1999/2000 according to MARCA.
Finally, Sepp Blatter is throwing shade at a baby toy company who he thinks wants to sell cake:
25 billion for a piece of the big cake? That's wrong! You can not sell
— Joseph S Blatter (@SeppBlatter) April 19, 2018
out football. Football - the most popular sport in the world - belongs to the people. #Fifa #Uefa @Infantino #FIFAWorldCup
Goal
Here’s a video of Bob Marley playing soccer for no particular reason at all that I’m showing you today:
Fantasy rekrap
Fantasy rosters lock tonight at 8PM so get your picks in.
Here’s how I have my team lined up - can you guess where I stand on the Josef takes that have been floating around?
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So I have a few things going on there with a keeperoo (meaning if Melia does well I will drop Bono for a scrub and probably rework my whole line up) and a switcheroo with Leerdam and Senderos in defense.
Aside from those picks, I also like Miguel Almiron, Felipe Gutierrez, and Jacori Hayes in midfield. For defenders if you have the money, Graham Zusi has a good matchup, Greg Garza is also inexpensive but might not keep a cleansheet this weekend, and Tim Parker should be a good option against a bad Chicago team. If you want to make a sacrifice to the altar of the dread god, get Zlatan, for other forwards look at Alberth Elis and Will Bruin for an inexpensive option.