Matchday 7: Arch Foes Face Off
Kansas City was overwhelmed in Portland on the 20th – a very hot afternoon. The Thorns should have chalked up a large score, except the strikers didn’t strike. Unlike all our players — everyone who played scored! 4-4-2 led the way with six points thanks to the most-liked wild prediction of a Westphal braiding triumph. Nobody got the correct score, but remarkably two players named Liz Ball for the first yellow card!
Here is our table after the KC match:
Now the Thorns travel cross-country to face our historical nemesis, the North Carolina Courage. The Courage have not been the steamroller of years past, except when Louisville came to town. This is likely the last game with our national team players before the Olympics. The match is Saturday June 26 at 4;00pm on Paramount +.
How this works:
Add a comment to this post. As your first line, put your predicted result, for example 3-1 Thorns.
In the body of your comment, start with the goals and assists, like so:
Charley (Klingenberg)
Horan (Free kick)
Weaver (Unassisted)
Williams (PK)
Next, name the first yellow card recipient: Abby Erceg for dragging down Charley from behind.
Then reds, if any. (NOTE: no points awarded for correctly calling a red-card-free match, so take a guess.) Abby Erceg’s second yellow for dragging down Weaver from behind.
Make your fun prediction, and give a “thumbs up” to anybody else’s prediction that tickles your fancy: Paul Riley chats with Mark Parsons pregame, then looks into the camera and mouths “Gavin, call me”.
Scoring:
· 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)
· Most liked/most outrageously accurate prediction: 2 points
Some ground rules and explanations/clarifications (the fine print):
Comments must be posted before kickoff, but you can edit or amend an earlier prediction right up to the starting whistle.
Keep your scoreline predictions realistic. No crazy scores just to pad out your odds of getting goals and assists.
The goal/assist bonus is an additional point if you predict the correct scorer and assistant on the same goal, for example, you say Hubly scores from a Boureille assist and that is exactly what happens. P.S. if you say exactly that, and it happens, I will hunt you down and buy you a beer!
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 = not in run of play. For the purposes of this thread, Penalty Kick and Free Kick are the same thing. No entry means unassisted.
The game thread will usually be posted 48 hours before each match.
Have fun, tell your friends, let me know if you have any questions or if I screw up your score.
- The Thorns Prediction Game - November 14, 2021
- The Thorns Prediction Game - November 12, 2021
- The Thorns Prediction Game - October 28, 2021
3-3
Smith (Kling)
Sinc (FK/PK)…no way she can miss two weeks in a row, right?
Dunn (Horan)
Mewis (Debinha)
McDonald (Williams)
Debinha (FK/PK)
YC: Mathias
RC: Charley
Jess decides to prank the broadcast crew by handing out shirts at the game reading “I’m Jeremiah McDonald”. The crew follows around a 4 year old Asian girl for a while…then a 70 year old white guy…before getting the joke. By this time the damage is done, as Kaylyn Kyle has gleefully identified both on air as Jess’s children.
Thorns 2 – 1 Courage
Charley (Horan)
Smith (unassisted … see below)
Williams (Rowland … from a super-long goal kick)
YC: Horan
RC: Mathias
Mark Parsons uses Sophia Smith as a super sub, so she only is in for the last ten minutes. She takes the opportunity to prove how well she can play. She receives the ball in the box from a Kling cross, dribbles around NCC’s defenders and midfield, making the shape of the Olympic rings as she goes away from the goal, and then re-enacts Carli Lloyd’s third goal in WWC15 by chipping the keeper from midfield.
2-nil The Damned Courage
Williams (Debinha)
McDonald (Williams)
YC Horan
RC Parsons
After the final whistle Coach Parsons scrabbles up some dirt from the WakeMed pitch to shake hands with the center referee, who is wise to his game and shows him red for even trying it. He does fool Paul Riley, though, who stalks off shaking his hand and cussing in fluent Scouse.
Just had to go and predict a shutout, didn’t you? Now I need to go find a fix for my bubble of ignorant bliss…
I hate it when I think the Thorns are going to lose. But we’ve been having issues scoring, The Damned have Mewisized themselves, and we have a long history of getting beat in Cary. I really hope I’m being to pessimistic, but I just have a bad feeling about this one…
Thorns 1–0 Courage
Dunn (Sinclair)
YC: O’Sullivan
RC: Mathias
To counter the temperature differential between Portland and Cary, the Thorns arrive with thermal warmups, hats and gloves plus insulated anoraks and bench heaters for the reserves. Hot cocoa is available at the hydration breaks.
1-1
Smith (Weaver)
Debhina (Williams)
I have a bad feeling about this game too- so this score is aspirational. I really REALLY want Smith to start being a scoring machine. We need her to get balls in the box.
YC- Horan
YC- Matthias
Paul Riley gets so frustrated by the team’s lack of scoring that that the pulsating veins in his head explode & spell “underdog” (I’ve got nothin’ 😝)
2-1 away loss
Charley (Dunn)
McDonald
Debinha
YC Kurtz
RC Parsons
Without Horan and Smith our midfield is over run and we have to result to route one ball for our only goal. Charley’s celebration for that goal does include a cartwheel though.
It takes our back line and a monster Franch game to keep it close. Ryan does get some minutes as a sub.
2-0thorns
Sincy (dunn)
Simone Charley (dunn)
YC mathis
RC mathis
Hell id love to see the thorns win by 6 to show them how it feels to get embarrassed at home but gotta stay realistic