Rose City Forecast 18: Portland Timbers vs Montreal Impact

It’s time for another Forecast! For better or worse, since this series is all about league play, we’re going to avoid the problems stemming from Wednesday’s US Open Cup match, and look back to the first LAFC match this week.

If you remember that game, great! If not, well, that’s okay, since it got outshone by the second match of the week. Nevertheless, the Portland Timbers came away with a very solid road point in a 0-0 draw. PTFC had some chances they should have finished in the first half, and Jeff Attinella came up big a couple of times to hold the shutout, but that’s about it. Oh! There was actually a red card, and it wasn’t to a Timber, though Diego Chara did get his third yellow since his last suspension, so that’s not great.

It was a low scoring week, but kudos to GeorgeCorps17 and 4-5-2 for sharing the prediction of the week. You both earned points from predicting a draw, Benny Feilhaber for the first yellow, and over on total cards! MindfulCyclist gets the fun points of the week for suggesting that social media would freak out after a loss, because Giovanni Savarese didn’t wear his scarf in the California heat. Well, the reason was wrong (I wish it had been as trivial as not wearing a scarf.) and the game was wrong, but you were certainly right about the social media freak out after a loss!

A perfect prediction, for 15 points:

0-0

First yellow to Feilhaber

Red to Lee Nguyen

Over on cards

This Saturday, the Timbers get another home match, as they host the Montreal Impact. Though the all-competitions unbeaten run is ended, it still holds in league play, and we know PTFC always expects three points at home. Unfortunately, the team is going to have to manage without its engine; Diego Chara is suspended for yellow card accumulation. Not to mention Fanendo Adi’s uncertain status after he didn’t make the game day 18 midweek despite being in Los Angeles. And then there’s the opponent. Montreal haven’t been particularly good in 2018, but they haven’t been particularly bad, either. Their road record is pretty terrible (two wins, nine losses), but they’ve won five of their last six (the Timbers have won two of six). On top of that, both times the Impact have visited Portland, they’ve taken points back to Canada. Will the Timbers finally figure out how to overcome the Chara-shaped void in midfield, or will Montreal take points from Portland again?

Total Cards O/U: 3.5

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, but you may predict up to 3 players with a red.)
• Over/under on total cards: 1 point
• Most outrageous(ly 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. 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.

For the most outrageous(ly accurate) prediction, I will be trying to toe a line between completely absurd and mundane in my choices. As I see it, the goal here is to add even more fun without going too over-the-top ridiculous. So, in my mind, the best predictions will be something that could conceivably happen, but don’t happen often, like amusing coaching spats or goals that bounce off the crossbar, then off the keeper’s back, and then in. Things like that.

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?