Week 3 RBNY MLS Fantasy Recap: Sacha Kljestan, Felipe Martins, Mike Grella

The New York Red Bulls looked to have shaken the monkey off their backs after defeating the Houston Dynamo in a wild game 4-3.  Twenty-five minutes in, Gonzalo Veron made a nice move down the wing and the ball found Sacha Kljestan for the Red Bulls opening goal.  That's when things started to whirlwind like this year's presidential election.

First, Veron had to leave the game with an injured left leg in the 32nd minute, replaced by Mike Grella.  Then Will Bruin scored in the 32nd.  Then Gideon Baah came up lame with a clear hamstring injury, substituted by Karl Ouimette.  And to close out the first half, Bruin completed his brace to put Houston up 2-1.

In the second half, a scrappy Mike Grella scored within one yard of the goal in the 63rd minute to tie it up.  Then two minutes later, Alex put Houston back in front 3-2.  Then Felipe Martins brought the game back even and completed a brace of his own five minutes later.  This is the first game this season where RBNY players have scored over 4 fantasy points.  Here were the top performers:

Sacha Kljestan (MID, 13 points): Kljestan opened the game's scoring in the 25th minute, then added an assist on Felipe's first goal in the 77th minute.  He had a very tough first two games of the season, but showed up nicely in this game to keep his team from dropping to 0-3.

Felipe Martins (MID, 12 points): Felipe was a bit of a ghost the first hour of the game, then woke up.  He earned a yellow card, which kept him from tying Kljestan's fantasy point total. His first goal was a great shot outside the box with his right foot.  His second was the game winner off a perfectly taken free kick about 20 yards from goal, curling around the defensive wall.

Mike Grella (MID, 6 points): Grella entered the game unexpectedly in the first half for an injured Gonzalo Veron. It took until the second half to get going, but after 60 minutes, he did just that.  A ball that Houston just couldn't clear was blasted into the net by Grella at extreme short range.

The Red Bulls don't play again until April 1st, so enjoy the USMNT during their World Cup qualifying!