Rose City Forecast 25: TFC vs PTFC

Welcome back to the Forecast for the start of the Timbers’ stretch run! With only ten games left, PTFC will need every point they can manage. Fortunately, they picked up three points last week, and now own an unbeaten run of three games, and two of those were wins.

LA came out playing desperate and after Ridgewell got the first goal, the Galaxy responded promptly as Boateng smoked Miller in a footrace. A few minutes later, it looked as though LA took the lead, but with the first use of video replay in Portland, the goal was waved off as Zardes had handled the ball into the goal, instead of heading it. The Galaxy came close a couple more times, as good chances went wanting, but eventually the Timbers found their footing and finished off the LA club with goals from Valeri and Powell.

There’s no prediction of the week this time around as many of you correctly predicted the 3-1 scoreline, and of those, most of you earned 11 points. However, shrekpdx got bumped to 13 points courtesy of his bold prediction that Sigi Schmid would mention bringing on Dempsey and Evans to make a serious impact in a tough rivalry match. However, it appears that a year out of a job was long enough for Sigi to realize he’s no longer a Flounder.

The standings. Let me know about mistakes!

This weekend, the Timbers travel cross-country to take on the supporters-shield-leading Toronto FC. With eight wins and zero losses at home, and only three losses overall, TFC has proven to be something close to a juggernaut this season as the club is getting full value out of their DP’s and are also considered one of the deepest, if not THE deepest, teams in the league. PTFC, with it’s middling road record, has its work cut out before it. Can Porter and Co. shock MLS and come away with a result, or even better that statement W?

Over/under: 3.5 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?