Rose City Forecast Seven: PTFC vs. SKC

Another week, another game, another Rose City Forecast!

Last week, the Portland Timbers managed their second road win of the season - one of the few times they’ve won in the eastern timezone, and one of the few times they’ve won a road game by multiple goals. This attack continues to be prolific. However, the game didn’t look so rosy to start, as Philly got the first goal, and the Timbers generally looked uninspired for the first 30 minutes. Then Darlington went on a solo dribble and surprising everyone, hammered home a shot from outside the box. PTFC went on to get a goal from Miller - his first ever in 130 MLS matches! - on a corner kick from Valeri, and then Porter subbed (!) on Mattocks who drew a PK, which Adi buried for his 46th Timbers goal, and now stands alone atop the Timbers’ all time goal scoring chart.

The predictions were largely as successful as the Timbers were, as too many of you predicted a 3-1 win for me to choose a most accurate pick of the week. Lots of points earned. However, special shout-out to Timber DT for correctly calling that Chara would commit zero fouls in this game. As such, they get two points for a crazy prediction that ended up being correct. However, Z-thrilla predicted that Porter would make sub sandwiches on the bench for his players to eat at the end of the game, and that got the most recs, so they also get two points!

Onto the standings. If I messed up my math, let me know!

PTFC returns to Providence Park this weekend, to take on fellow western conference side (un)Sporting Kansas City. It’s a match of unstoppable offense vs immovable defense. SKC has conceded only two goals in five games, and are undefeated on the season, with 2 wins and 3 draws. The Timbers, as we know, lead MLS with 16 goals scored in six games. Who wins out? Will the dominant offense break down the walled-off goal, or will SKC stand firm?

Over/under: 5.5 total cards

The Scoring Format:

• Correct score: 5 points
• Correct result (draw/win/loss): 3 points
• Each clean sheet: 2 points
• Each goal-scorer: 1 point
• Each FK/PK/assist/lack of assist: 1 point
• Goal/assist bonus: 1 point
• Player with the first yellow card of the match: 1 point
• Each player with a red card: 1 point (Cannot earn points for predicting 0 red cards)
• Over/under on total cards: 1 point
• Most recommended/most outrageously accurate prediction: 2 points

Some ground rules and explanations/clarifications (the fine print):

You may amend your prediction at any point up to kick off to account for game day 18 announcements. Though I recommend at least getting an initial prediction sooner, just in case you forget to come back in that hour or two before the game.

Keep your scoreline predictions realistic. Basically, if you’re predicting lots of goals all the time to just earn points on goals and assists and ignoring the score, I feel that goes against the spirit of this thread. This hasn’t been at all a problem in the last two years, so let’s keep it that way!

The goal/assist bonus is an additional point if you correctly get the correct scorer and assistant on the same goal. (e.g., if Nagbe scores, assisted by Valeri, and you predicted that exact combination you get a total of three points - 1 goal, 1 assist, 1 bonus. However, if you predicted Nagbe scores assisted by Adi and Adi scores assisted by Valeri, you would get two points from the Nagbe/Valeri prediction - 1 goal, 1 assist)

Please be clear whether you think a goal will be unassisted, assisted, or from a PK/FK. Unassisted = no assist, run of play; Assisted = player who got the assist; PK/FK = directly from a free kick. For the purposes of this thread, a PK counts as a FK, and a FK as a PK. If you just leave the assist section blank, I will assume you’re declining to make an assist prediction.

Even though a player can be awarded a secondary assist by OPTA, I will award a maximum of one assist point per goal. But that point can come from either the primary or secondary assist in the box score. However, please keep your predictions to one assist per goal.

For the over/under on cards, a second yellow leading to a red counts as two cards, not three.

You may predict more than one red card if you’re expecting a chippy match, but only up to three total.

Most weeks, I will reward the most recommended prediction with the 2 points. However, if someone predicts that Caleb will bring a towel to dry off Seattle’s field, and he does, they’ll probably get those two points, regardless of whether they got the recs. We’ll also be testing this out, because I want to be careful that this doesn’t end up favoring the first few people to post their prediction. As I see it, the goal here is to add even more fun without going too over-the-top ridiculous.

If you’re looking for where I set the over/under on total cards, check the end of the preview paragraph after the standings.

Format:

In the comment title, post your predicted score with the winners, eg: 4-2 Timbers

In the body of your comment, start with the goals and assists, like so:

Nagbe (Valeri)

Valeri (Free kick)

Adi (PK)

Blanco (Unassisted)

Beckham (Free kick)

Donovan (Beckham)

Next, choose your first yellow card, and that means picking only one person.

First yellow to Nigel De Jong

Then reds, if any. (NOTE: no points awarded for correctly calling a red-card-free match, so take a guess.)

Nigel De Jong gets a red card for stomping Blanco.

Clearly note whether you’re predicting over or under on total cards. Don’t leave me to try and figure it out!

And lastly, make your fun prediction.

Nigel de Jong tries to stomp Nagbe’s ankle again, but this time, Nagbe avoids the tackle. Being angry Nagbe for the first time in three years, he kicks the ball straight into NDJ’s groin. Camera pans to a trademark Chara smile.

As always, any questions about anything?