Thursday, May 19, 2011

Portland Timbers v. Columbus Crew

Preview Match up show! Okay, not a show or much of a match up because eastern time zone teams are have a rough time playing out west. In fact, none have won. The "odds" are slim that Columbus will win given this one has a start time of 11pm EST. Late. A topic for another day.

Back to "Odds". Over here at Helltown we don't mettle in odds! We deal with truths, facts, KPI's, non value adds, upper and lower control limits, failure mode and effects analysis, repeatability and reproducibility, et al right? Huzzah!

Annnnddd, one day I'll get to all that. Well, in fact I working on using tools used in the industry I work in (MFG) and applying them to soccer. Sound silly? It's not. Lots in common. Namely; success as goal.

What I have been working on is my measurement system. Being able to measure is one of the most important things to get right before trying to improve (win) or, in the case of the MLS, get the most out of the limited funds that you have. It is not right the first time out. Mine is not right. But I gotta start somewhere.

Below is how the Timbers and Columbus match up at the four basic positions up to this point in the season:


The Crew has a decided edge in the back with Defense and Goal Keeping. Portland; up front. In my previous post you can see where they both rank overall.

Portland has two players in my top 20 (on right as well). The rest are Crew players in the top 50 in the league.

81:Jack Jewsbury (POR)
81:Kenny Cooper (POR)
77:Eddie Gaven
76:Robbie Rogers
75:Sebastian Miranda
73:Chad Marshall
73:William Hesmer
73:Julius James

Miranda sticks out right now because of his play in the last couple games. Hoping bleeno can catch last weeks game to help out on that one.

Prediction? I can't really make one. The game is on late and Portland has an awesome crowd behind them. But I hear Jewsbury may be out. It'll be a tough one for the Crew but how they respond to last weeks 12 minute meltdown will say a lot about the team. If they can come out of this with a draw then I think I could see that as a success.

But I dislike calling a draw a success.

Get your rest gentlemen. Go Crew.

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