Rose City Forecast 30: Minnesota United vs Portland Timbers

Welcome to the 30th prediction thread! Including this one, just five more to go! (We only care about the Prediction Shield, not a Cup.)

Going back briefly to that Houston game, a shout out to all of you still bitter about their field condition last November! Because so many of you went with that as your theme for the bonus points, I couldn’t choose between all of them. So I had to give the bonus points to UNOprivateer for suggesting that the Timbers might question the impartiality of the referees when they’re spotted wearing ten gallon hats. While their bias wasn’t so blatant, that iffy offside call on Valeri could have (maybe... possibly?) changed the game, and it sure looked like they got it wrong. And a shout-out to STYLES34 for taking the best prediction by being the only one to go with a Timbers loss.

On Wednesday, the Portland Timbers hosted the Columbus Crew and got a win. PTFC started rough and conceded first, letting Niko Hansen score in just the seventh minute. The Crew could’ve had a couple more but were unable to finish, and after about the fifteenth minute, the Timbers remembered to play soccer. They got two goals - one was Andy Polo’s first! - to take a 2-1 lead into halftime, and then scored again in the 48th minute to go up 3-1. Portland held onto that lead until essentially the last play of the game, when Hansen scored again to bring the final score to 3-2.

Timbers Pride and landoid both got six points for shared predictions of the week, getting the result and a mix of goals, assists and the number on cards correct. The bonus points go to jocked07 for predicting that while ahead, Gio Savarese would bring on a forward for an attacking midfielder to defend the lead. And Gio’s only subs were attacking, so close enough!

A perfect score for the Houston match would have earned 25 points:

4-1

Alberth Elis (Tomas Martinez); Mauro Manotas (Elis, Martinez); Manotas (unassisted); Alejandro Fuenmayor (unassisted)

Fuenmayor (OG)

First yellow to Valentin and OVER on cards.

A perfect score for the Columbus match would have earned 25 points as well:

3-2

David Guzman (Andy Polo OR Sebastian Blanco); Andy Polo (unassisted); Lala Abubakar (OG)

Niko Hansen (Milton Valenzuela OR Pedro Santos); Niko Hansen (Connor Maloney OR Eduardo Sosa)

First yellow to Polo and OVER on cards.

Tight race at the top of the standings as we approach the final month of the season!

This Saturday’s match ends a week full of travel for the Timbers, as they’re back on the road in Minnesota. You may recognize Minnesota United as one of the worst teams in the league, all but officially eliminated from playoff contention. Unfortunately, they have been solid at home with eight wins from thirteen games, so their overall record might not be what matters. The Timbers, of course, have been off and on lately, with most of the on coming at home. Also working against PTFC is their midweek game; Minnesota got a full week of rest. Will Portland be able to get a result and keep working towards a home playoff game?

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.