Rose City Forecast 28: Houston Dynamo vs Portland Timbers

Welcome back to the forecast!

Last week, the Portland Timbers (with a little help from VAR) took care of business against the Colorado Rapids with a 2-0 home win. Jeremy Ebobisse got his first start of 2018 and opened the scoring just before half time, after a questionable offside call kept him off the board earlier in the match. After halftime, the Rapids thought they had the chance to equalize when the referee called a penalty in their favor, only to have it called off by VAR. Shortly after, Diego Valeri scored the Timbers’ second goal to put the match away. Sebastian Blanco had an excellent game, assisting both goals with pinpoint crosses.

UNOprivateer takes the prediction of the week by calling the 2-0 scoreline, the Valeri (Blanco) goal, and that there would not be too many cards, for a whopping 14 points. The bonus wild points go to lefthanded49 for suggesting that no substitutes would be made. That didn’t exactly happen, but since the Timbers were up 2-0 and the game wasn’t really in doubt, the fact that the second substitute came in second half stoppage is close enough. Why don’t Timbers coaches use all their subs when the game is in hand?!

A perfect prediction would have earned 18 points this week.

2-0

Ebobisse (Blanco); Valeri (Blanco)

First yellow to Johan Blomberg.

Fewer than 4.5 cards.

This weekend, the Timbers are traveling to Texas to face the Houston Dynamo. The Dynamo are not looking very dynamic, with zero wins in eight matches. The Timbers have put their four game losing streak behind them and are unbeaten in three. Houston is all-but-eliminated from the playoffs. PTFC is looking to secure home field advantage or even a first-round bye. In other words, these are teams on two different trajectories and in two different classes. But, it’s not that simple. No matter how big the difference between the teams, Portland has never won in Houston, and the Dynamo’s attack still features the duo of Alberth Elis and Romell Quioto, plus Mauro Manotas, who always seems to score against the Timbers. What are you feeling? Can the Timbers get their first win in Houston this weekend?

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. (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.