Matchday 20. Dash: Part One
It appears the season will resume. Which means we resume our prediction game. Which also means the Thorns play the Houston Dash on Wednesday at 7:00pm at Providence Park (Paramount + in USA, Twitch elsewhere). This is the home leg of a home-away series that sees us in Houston on the 17th.
The Thorns are still in first place by three points. This is our game-in-hand on OL Reign. A win puts us six points clear with three games to play. Houston sits on the playoff line tied with the Spirit on points but behind in the head-to-head tiebreaker. Realistically, the Dash need to win three of their remaining five matches to have a chance at the playoffs. That leaves them room to lose to the Thorns twice (pretty please).
And then there’s the dark cloud hanging above Providence Park. What effect does that have?
[Last meeting: July 24, 2021 at Houston. 1-0 Thorns win.]
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:
Smith (Klingenberg)
Salem (Free kick)
Moultrie (Unassisted)
Daly (PK)
Next, name the first yellow card recipient: Shea Groom
Then a red card. (NOTE: no points awarded for correctly calling a red-card-free match, so take a guess.) Jane Campbell for handling the ball outside the box.
Make your fun prediction, and give a “thumbs up” to anybody else’s prediction that tickles your fancy: It feels wrong to have fun. But at the end, the walkaround becomes one of those singing-while-crying-but-happy moments.
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
· A player with a red card: 1 point
· 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.
- The Thorns Prediction Game - November 14, 2021
- The Thorns Prediction Game - November 12, 2021
- The Thorns Prediction Game - October 28, 2021
2-0 Thorns
Smith -n- Weaver
Rocky
YC: Groom
RC: Campbell
Liv Moultrie, having no idea how to process all this, decides to try to lift everyone’s spirits by making chocolate chip pancakes for both teams. Amazingly this works and she gets player of the match…for both sides.
I predict that concessions numbers will be way down. I predict angry chanting directed at the front office and the owner. I predict silence from said owner, waiting for this all to blow over. I predict world-class athletes will delight us with their amazing skills. While the score definitely matters, as without the scoreboard, there is no sport, the score of this one matters not at all.
Well…
The reason for all the above is because of soccer. The players are daughters, mothers, sisters, friends , lovers, wives…but first and foremost they are soccer players. So for them, the score DOES matter. They want glory, they want championship shares, so they want to win.
We can do both; we can remain insistent and vigilant for their rights…while re-entering the world of the game and the play on the pitch. I think the players would want us to.
2-1
Sinclair (Dunn)
Smith (Klingenberg
Groom (Latsko)
YC Hanson
RC Groom
Although I agree that we should re-engage the games (as I said above) I can’t yet find in me a silly or funny story. The times are not ready for that yet.
2-0.
Sinc PK
Smith (Kling) Set Piece
YC Horan
RC Sinc
Post Game realizing he is on limited time Parsons starts to leak all the T he has accumulated over the 6 years as a coach as a Thorn as well as earlier years at the Spirit during the post game presser. He holds no punches and saves the careers of no man trying to clear the leeches from the league. He acknowledges the greatest acquisition of his entire time here was getting Angerer to agree to be his goal keeping coach. He finishes with am “Ice Bears for life,” and leaves the podium to start contacting the various investigations with the emails he has accumulated over the years. Now that someone is willing to listen he finally has someone to turnover all hisyears of receipts.
Thorns 3-1 Dash
Weaver (Smith)
Sinclair
Horan (Klingenberg)
Groom(Mewis)
YC: Chapman
RC: Visalli
That’s all I got, there ain’t no more.
2-0 thorns
Sinc-Rocky
Smith-Horan
Kickoff starting.no time