Speaking of games, Saturday brings us the match against The Fscking Canadians. When: Saturday, 6 June, 7PM Where: Raccoon Freedom Kaverns Why: Their fresh, cold, mapley Canadian blood provides us sustenance for matches to come. Critter: I tried finding one on a grill, but it wasn't so apparently a moose, which is disappointing. They look delish. ANYHOW, crush the Canuckistanis!
I have a sure-fire strategy that will get Toronto to forfeit the match: simply build one of these across the street from RFK: . . .and they'll be too distracted to show up for the match!
TFC players are apparently very polite. We have two players on CautionWatch (Arnaud and Boswell), who have 1 and 2 matches to go card free for "good behaviour." The Canuckistanis have none. According to the stats on the MLS site, United concedes 0.8 goals/game at home while Toronto concedes 1.5/game away. Therefore I see us winning 3-1.6.
Toronto projects their starting 11: United's website still has the last match highlights as their lead. So, you know, it'll be a surprise.
Bringing some band students and families out to this one, hope its a good one! Give those schools a cheer if you hear them announced at halftime.
Here's what you want: A = Toronto goals scored/game on the road B = DCU goals conceded/game at home C = Toronto goals conceded/game on the road D = DCU goals scored/game at home X = number of road games TFC has played Y = number of home games DCU has played Predicted Toronto goals scored = A*X/(X+Y) + B*Y/(X+Y) Predicted DCU goals scored = C*X/(X+Y) + D*Y/(X+Y) The idea is that to predict Toronto's goals, both their rate of scoring on the road, and our rate of conceding at home, matter. Which matters more? Unknown, but one reasonable thing to do is to weight each by the number of such games played (because a rate that's been established over a lot of games is more reliable than one that's been established over just a few).
Bradley's in Amsterdam for todays game, USMNT vs Netherlands. Even though he's a leader for the US team, I've always thought he's under-performed (or just doesn't have the players around him) in Toronto. Am I right? Will they actually play a bit better without him?
Could this be the day where the stars align and we actually see Ben's A team for one brief blink of an eye? ---------------------------------Hamid Franklin------------Boswell---------------Opare-----------Kemp De Leon------------Halsti---------------Kitchen------------Rolfe ---------------------Arrieta--------------Espindola Not sure if that's actually Ben's A team … but it probably should be.
3 more points are crucial here. we have 7 home and 11 away after this match. RFK is a fortress for the second straight year, and 3rd out of 4. We should expect nothing less, against a depleted TFC side. Also I am bringing a first timer with me, so we should play well out of respect.
Iono. I really liked Silva and Espindola together last year. Your line-up makes some sense, but I would like to try to work Silva in there somewhere. Also, I thought Halsti was gone for Finland this weekend?
I think that's close. You could argue Pontius or Silva for Arreita and possibly Birnbaum or Korb for Kemp. That would be more situation and tactical depending on who was lining up on the right side. But, that'd be pretty close to the best team. But can we talk about how poor Franklin has been this season? I thought he was quite good last season, but he's a new area of concern for me this year. He hasn't been atrocious every game, but he has been below his standard. And for the price, he hasn't been worth it this year.
A=1.5 B=.78 C=1.5 D=1.67 X=8 Y=9 Predicted Toronto goals scored = 1.12 Predicted DCU goals scored = 1.59 The ball is round; so we should round. DC 2-1 win.
Nope, I'm sticking with decimals, because you never know with these refs. Also, if we win via a 2-1 scoreline, I may soil myself and begrudgingly pick up a book on the maths again.