Rose City Forecast 24: Portland Timbers vs Seattle Sounders

Welcome again to the Rose City forecast, your source for Portland Timbers match predictions!

Last weekend, the streak continued. No, not the good one. After a 3-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City, the Timbers are owners of a three game losing streak with a goal differential of -7 in those three matches. To say the least, since the end of the 15 game unbeaten run, it has not been fun in Portland and the guys in green did nothing to change that in Kansas City. Early in the game, completely against the run of play, Samuel Armenteros pinged a shot off the post, but after that it was all Kansas City, who had 25 shots to the Timbers 7; 10 of those were on goal, compared to just 1 from Portland. And that’s just scratching the surface of myriad problems that allowed Diego Rubio to get a brace and Johnny Russell to add a goal in the 89th minute to complete SKC’s win. So, time to move on.

MofoOG takes the prediction of the week, with a 2-0 scoreline and a Rubio goal assisted by Espinoza for eight points. MrMoody gets the bonus prediction points, for suggesting that, opposite of what they do in Portland, SKC would actually play clean soccer, and in this match they sure did a better job of playing nice soccer than Portland did. In fact, SKC didn’t even receive a yellow card.

A perfect prediction for 21 points:

Rubio (Espinoza); Rubio (Salloi OR Besler); Russell (Nemeth)

First yellow to Cascante.

Under on cards.

In case you didn’t know (where have you been?!), it’s rivalry week, and the Timbers are hosting the Seattle Sounders. Alas, the two teams are trending in opposite directions. As you’re aware if you read the first paragraph, the Timbers are the not-so-proud owners of a three game losing streak; the Sounders are on a six game winning streak. Seattle has finally figured out how to score; the Timbers have largely gotten the goalmouth yips. But this match is in Portland, anything can happen in a rivalry match, and the Timbers will certainly not want to lose to two rivals at home in two weeks. Can Portland get their act together and come away with three needed points?

Total Cards O/U: 4.5

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. (For example, 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 an FK, and an 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; for example, 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, kicks the ball straight into NDJ’s groin. Camera pans to a trademark Chara smile.