DiffeRANCHals: 2025 Round 19

 

 

 

 

Every week, we’ll go over our suggestions from last week, and determine if they were a good or bad pick based on position and points. To describe in detail the ranking system, here is the metric: bust = 3 or fewer points (or did not play), average = 4-5 points, good = 6-8 points, great = 9+ points. Double gameweeks (DGWs) are scored as follows: bust = 6 or fewer points (or not starting/on the bench), average = 7-9 points, good = 10-12 points and great = 13+ points. Players not available for selection are disregarded and not counted as either a positive or a negative in the article.

Week 18 Results:

Matt:

• DeJuan Jones – Average (9 points)
• Caden Clark – Bust (1 point)
• Kelvin Yeboah – Average (7 points)

Ranch:

• Kyle Duncan – Good (11 points)
• Frederico Bernadeschi – Berned to the grounded… Terminated!
• Jacen Russel-Rowe – Great! (13 points)

Meg:

• Nicolas Romero – Bust (2 points)
• Ignatius Ganago – DNP
• Joao Klauss – Good (12 points)

Matt Results: 5 Great, 11 Good, 11 Average, 21 Bust

Ranch Results: 9 Great, 15 Good, 5 Average, 19 Bust

Meg Results: 2 Great, 4 Good, 3 Average, 11 Busts

2025 Full Season Results: 16 Great, 30 Good, 19 Average, 51 Busts (55%)

 

Happy Independence Day from the diffeRANCHals team! Everyone stay safe out there, and have the best of times. There will be fireworks all throughout the States on Friday, and hopefully more fireworks in games this weekend. Matt is out this week, so Meg and I will be covering our suggested picks for the week. Let’s get into it!

Ranch: David Schnegg, $4.6m (Defender – DC United)

I’m ready to bet against Atlanta once again. Although DCU is usually not the team to look at to keep a clean sheet, they are playing against Atlanta, who has been having a hard time scoring lately. Now this game either is going to wake Atlanta up and they are going to score 4+ goals, or DC will shut them down and I look like a genius for suggesting Schnegg. I will preface this pick by saying I personally am not planning on picking Schnegg. However, I also love the idea of picking a random defender from a team that is not the most looked at for defense. Keep an eye on Schegg!

Meg: Edier Ocampo, $7.7m (Defender – Vancouver Whitecaps)

Vancouver defense has been pretty solid this season regardless if they are holding down the fort at home or defending their goal on the road. Last week they kept LAFC scoreless and I feel confident at their chances to hold LAG to nil as well. Ocampo plays the winger position so he is always pushing up the sides to get in on the attack, this being a game earlier on in the week, he is worth considering as a bench play to double dip a cleansheet as well as some attacking points.

Ranch: Marco Reus, $10.6m (Midfielder – LA Galaxy)

With the Galaxy getting healthy again, Marco Reus has been putting up some big numbers. His involvement in the Galaxy attack has been something that people are sleeping on lately. However, I would like to suggest him this week. Although he has a home game against one of the best teams in the West, Vancouver, Reus still has a fighting chance to get on the scoresheet this Friday. The Galaxy loves to put on a firework show, and why not do it on Independence Day? Another thing to keep in mind is that Vancouver has a CCC game on Wednesday next week, so they may rest/rotate.

Meg: Ted Ku-DiPietro, $5.8m (Midfielder – Colorado Rapids)

Djordie Mihailovic is out due to injury so who is going to step up in his place? Well let me introduce you to Mister Teddy Ku-DiPietro, or KDP for short because his name is a mouthful. KDP has been increasing his minutes played and his solid in getting almost 70 minutes per game, with the absence of Djordie, I would think his minutes will increase closer to 90 this gameweek. Colorado is at home against a shaky SKC defense, I think KDP can wreck a little havoc and score a decent amount of points this week. If you are anything like me and are rotating player after player for your fifth midfielder spot, maybe you should just run KDP and see where it gets ya. =]

Meg: Zavier Gozo, $5.4m (Forward – Real Salt Lake )

Gozo has been featured on this article in prior weeks but here is another week in which he is worthy of a look. Diego Luna is still with Team USA so Gozo should be playing more central. They are at home playing a lackluster St. Louis defense, sounds like a good hunch for some stellar Gozo point production. The last few matches he seems to be making great plays so let this be the week that things find the back of the net!

Ranch: Prince Owusu, $8.7m (Forward – Montreal)

A player who has been doing well despite his team not playing the greatest is Prince Owusu. He currently has 7 goals and 2 assists across 17 starts this season. That is an average of a goal contribution every other game. Well, with him not scoring last game against NYCFC, that just opens the door for his “every other game” this week against Inter Miami. Messi and crew are returning home after a Club World Cup bout that ended with a 4-0 loss to PSG last week. Either Miami is going to have a hard time adjusting after the CWC, or they will come out swinging. Either way, the Miami defense isn’t the greatest and Owusu knows how to exploit teams that leave holes in their defense.

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Contributors: 
Tyler Norman, @Ranchinator on Discord
Matt Nelson, @Tinkerman on Discord
Megan Lee Turner, @Meg on Discord