TapinPat10 led this low-scoring round, putting up 77 points. At the top of the table,
Nouhou Big Summer Blowout extended their overall lead to 27 points.

Positional Leaders

Goalkeepers
A half dozen goalkeepers kept a clean sheet and tied for the positional lead this round on 8 points — James Pantemis (POR, $8.5), Brad Stuver (ATX, $8.1), Roman Celentano (CIN, $8.0), CJ Dos Santos (SD, $7.1), Andre Blake (PHI, $6.4), and John Pulskamp (SKC, $5.0). Notably, DCU’s Kim Joon Hong ($5.6) scored 0 points despite allowing 6 goals.

Defenders
Vancouver’s Ali Ahmed ($8.0) paired a clean sheet with an assist on the way to 12 points, leading the defenders ahead of Griffin Dorsey (HOU, $7.3), who did the same for 11 points. Femi Awodesu (HOU, $5.8) rounded out the top three with a clean sheet and 9 points. The United defense featured Derek Dodson ($4.0) with 2 points, followed by four players with the ignominy of negative scores — Matti Peltola ($5.1) and Kye Rowles ($5.3) with -1 point, and Aaron Herrera ($6.4) and Lucas Bartlett ($5.6) with -2.

Midfielders
A pair of players tied for the positional lead with 14 points, as Diego Luna (RSL, $8.3) scored a brace, and Cristian Espinoza (SJ, $9.8) added a goal to two assists. Houston’s Jack McGlynn was third with 13 points on the strength of a goal. For D.C., Gabriel Pirani ($7.2) scored 4 points; followed by Joao Peglow ($7.8) with 3; and the quartet of Hosei Kijima ($6.1), Jared Stroud ($6.3), Rida Zouhir ($4.1), and Randall Leal ($6.0) with 1.

Forwards
Josef Martinez (SJ, $7.7) scored a hat trick on the way to 21 points, easily leading the forwards and all players. Behind him were Dejan Joveljic (SKC, $8.3), who scored a brace on the way to 15 points, and “Leo” Messi (MIA, $11.9), who scored a goal and 13 points. DCU’s Christian Benteke ($11.8) scored 8 points, while Dominique Badji ($4.0) scored 2, and Jacob Murrell ($5.0) scored 1.

Looking Ahead
I like Yohei Takaoka (VAN, $7.9) in goal this round vs. Austin, and Adilson Malanda (CLT, $8.3) in defense at Montreal. If he’s healthy enough to start, Evander (CIN, $10.2) is looking really good in midfield vs. DCU, as is Tanitoluwa Oluwaseyi (MIN, $8.4) at forward vs. Toronto.