This article is part of our The Armband series.
We played it all wrong. Or mainly, I played it all wrong. I should've known teams would be rusty in the first week of action and goalkeepers would been the safest position to captain. Five goalkeepers finished with at least 10 fantasy points at the official MLS fantasy game, while a combined six midfielders and forwards hit that mark. At the least, Portland players topped the lists, as expected, and Giovani dos Santos was one of the few big-name players who came through, even if it was on a penalty.
But MLS knew that was going to happen, hence their reasoning for starting the official game in Week 2.
With that under our belts, the second one should be much better, right? At least that's the hope after only one team (Portland) scored more than two goals in Round 1. Things should open up a bit more with teams like the Whitecaps and Timbers now on the road, where they struggled mightily a season ago.
And of course that means looking at the Galaxy players again as they host Portland. Dos Santos should be one of the favorites for the armband, though finding another Galaxy option may be a little more difficult. Jermaine Jones has the name recognition but he's suspended, which means Romain Alessandrini is probably the next best option with Gyasi Zardes still out. Normally, it may be best to avoid teams traveling to Los Angeles, but the Galaxy just gave up two goals and already have as many home losses as all of last season. Diego Valeri and Fanendo Adi probably won't match what they did last weekend, but are still fairly trustworthy, especially Valeri.
San Jose hosts Vancouver, which means Chris Wondolowski has to be in the conversation, even if he isn't who he once was. The Earthquakes took down Montreal in their opener and could get off to a quick start with another win. Some will gamble on Anibal Godoy after he did everything against the Impact, but I'm not willing to stretch for him yet.
A differential captain that could be in for a score sheet appearance is Kevin Molino, who had five shots in Minnesota's 5-1 loss at Portland. United (Minnesota) will host United (Atlanta) in their MLS home opener. I'd be willing to bet that Molino finds the back of the net against the Atlanta back line that had some late faults in their loss to the Red Bulls.
David Villa is a name that will be at the top of lists as NYC FC have their first home match. He didn't find the score sheet at Orlando but still managed four shots and will be favored to score against D.C. United. Dallas picked up where it left last season and get another difficult road test at Sporting KC, but Maxi Urruti could end up being one of the better options by the end of the season. The same goes for David Accam, who was back to normal in the opener on his goal. The Fire host a Real Salt Lake side that was much different on the road last season so I'm not putting too much into their opening 0-0 draw against Toronto.
Cyle Larin could be one of my favorites going forward, but I'll wait and see how he performs away from home before going all-in. And of course, Sebastian Giovinco has to be mentioned after blanking in the opener after missing a penalty. Toronto travels to Philadelphia and it could be another difficult time for Giovinco and company.
And if you think the first weekend is a trend, the teams with the best chances for clean sheets include San Jose (vs. Vancouver) and New England (vs. Orlando). Vancouver didn't score in its opener and scored just one goal per road match in 2016. And while I said I could like Larin this season, I'm not backing him to score against the Revs, especially considering Orlando won't have Kaka for up to six weeks. The likes of David Bingham, Florian Jungwirth, Cody Cropper and Antonio Delamea will all be options that no one else thinks to captain, so at least they have that going for them.
