Saturday, March 29, 2014

Crew Rd 3 Predictions (SEA Away)

Late one tonight for the Columbus Crew as they travel to Seattle to take on the Sounders - and because MLS cares about honest competition about as much as Sounder fans are self aware (ohhh)... 10 PM EST kickoff.

 GAME NOTES: 
CLB: Still healthy through 3, similar/stable 11 expected
CLB: Only one poor half of play so far (1/4)
CLB: Turf can change / disrupt league leading passing game
SEA: Up and down start to season (2 Wins, 1 Loss)
SEA: Clint Dempsey out (suspension)
SEA: Chad Marshall facing old team

 TEN PREDICTIONS 
Going to order my usual ten predictions by pick accuracy this year. Only two rounds in but only two have picked correctly. On the left is % correct.

100% COLUMBUS DISPATCH ... SEATTLE SOUNDERS (lean)
Man on the beat, Adam Jardy; "This one will be played in front of a hostile crowd against an opponent on the short list of MLS Cup favorites." Pick up today's Dispatch around town if you can. Reading printed materials allows you to enter into a relationship with the written word and not a zillion distractions just a click away. You are also free to make your own opinion instead of having it shaped by the type of person that likes to post comments on sports articles.

100% WIN DRAW WIN ... COLUMBUS CREW
Whoa, surprise pick here for the Crew (50% of "Your Vote"). Seattle only getting 20%. There is also a Large Stake on the Away side 0-1.

50% BET365 .... SEATTLE SOUNDERS
A little bit of a different story at this large betting site. Seattle at better than even (17/20). Crew 10/3, Draw 12/5. No Away favorites this week.

50% GOAL.COM ... SEATTLE SOUNDERS (lean)
Thomas Floyd focuses on Seattle this week and thinks this will be the Crew's "sternest test yet."

50% HOME TEAM ... SEATTLE SOUNDERS
Over the last three years MLS home sides have won north of 55% of matches. Last two years is been almost 60%. This year is no different.

50% MLSSOCCER ... SEATTLE SOUNDERS (or Draw)
Oddly, the first time I've ever seen a split panel. Three like Seattle, three like a Draw. None like the Crew, however.

50% WHOSCORED.COM ... SEATTLE SOUNDERS
Graham Ruthven believes that if Seattle's "key players turn up, the Sounders will claim all three points."

0% WV HOOLIGAN ... SEATTLE SOUNDERS
Drew Epperley is high on the Sounders for today's "Sigi Bowl" (his words, not mine). More from Drew, "While I think Columbus is far better in the defense than Montreal is, Seattle still has too much talent up top to stop."

n/a% MASSIVE REPORT ... (no lean)
Go check out Pat Murphy's excellent pre-match piece to find out why after the game there will be hugs.

n/a% TABLE POSITION ...
Still not enough games. I'll wait till five in I reckon.

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 MY THOUGHTS 
yeah, shocker
To a fault, I get hung up on eastern timezone teams playing late out west. I look at it about once a year to see what the advantage is and it nuts. Not only to home sides win at almost 60% of the time in MLS you also have an added factor of a post 9 PM EST degree of difficulty to deal with.

Three teams from the East have late kickoffs tonight. Toronto, New England and the Crew. If it's a TV thing then it is a local agreement because none of these games are on national TV. It's frustrating.

Anyway, on the the game.

Turf can be tricky for a natural surface team. For the Crew, who lead the league in passing accuracy and are near the top in possession, it will be even more so. A lot of their game this year has revolved around being able to keep the ball. The only time they failed at keeping it was the 2nd half of last weeks game against Philly and it looked not all that pretty.

Going to be a tough one for the Crew, especially for players that have never played at CenturyLink Field, but Seattle hasn't done anything this year so far that blows my hair back.

With Berhalter and his staff the Crew are capable of managing the distractions (atmosphere, kickoff time, turf) that come with a late match in Seattle. That said, win tonight would be very impressive.

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