Sunday, October 7, 2012

Predictions: Crew v. SKC (Rd. 32)

Sporting Kansas City is in the Ohio capital tonight to take on the Columbus Crew. 4 PM EST. 1 PM out West.

GAME NOTES
• Danny O'Rourke serving a Card Suspension (Yellow Card accumulation)
• SKC has shut out last 4 opponents when playing away, yikes
• 3 Wins, 1 Draw in that time for SKC
• Crew home record is now unbeaten in last 7 (6 wins, 1 draw)
• Crew battling of last playoff spot, Win today will put them there
• SKC looking to keep pace for Supporters' Shield

PREDICTIONS
Drew Epperley, WV Hooligan: "The last team to beat SKC was this Crew side and I think they pull the upset again here as well." He's going 1:2 Crew win. Epperley is 40% accurate in picking Crew matches over last 15 games.

Aaron Katzeman at Massive Report doubles up on the 1:2 Crew win scoreline, but for spiritual reasons... "With a pre-match dedication to Kirk Urso at 3:15, Columbus will have the soccer gods on their side tomorrow afternoon." Aaron is correct 53% of the time.

Bet365 is calling it very close but slightly favors Crew (7/5) Draw (9/4) KC (19/10). Peter Coates betting site is 64% correct over last 15.

The fans at Goal.com and Massive Report are leaning Crew (noted).

The official site of MLS see's this a mixed Draw. 3 pick Draw, 2 Crew, 1 KC. Individually these guys pick wrong (nobody over 50% accurate), but used as a consensus and for Crew games only they are 60% right.

Going against the grain, the wiseguys theorize that KC will win this one (stake on 0:1 KC). The 67% accurate "your vote" section of WinDrawWin is going 48% KC, 29% Draw.

Adam Jardy, beat writer for the Columbus Crew at the Columbus Dispatch, is coy with his pick this week. Instead he opts for what the Crew need to do, and does it in a commanding Master Yoda voice; "An early Crew goal probably would the force the visitors to decide how much they want three points." It's not clear by the way it is written if the Crew have The Force or if SKC do.

What I am sure of is that I don't want "The Force" at this game at all. Does anybody still believe in that ancient religion? (*aannd, I'll just get my coat*)

MY THOUGHTS
The Crew have faced a team ranked in the top 5 nine times this year and have gone 4 wins, 1 draw, 4 loss. Not horrible and a record fitting a good mid-table team. However, the Crew haven't really had to face difficult teams lately. Other than Chicago in round 30, the last time was back in Round 20 (loss to DC).

Milovan Mirosevic didn't start any of the 4 wins and Federico Higuain has only played in one of these 9 matches against top 5 clubs (he played in the loss to Chicago). Danny O'Rouke absence is tough for me because I feel you need experienced MLS players against good teams.

Over the last 10 games Columbus has faced teams with an average rank of almost 13th on the table. Rounds 10-20? Opponents averaging 6th on the table.

To pull this off, the Crew are going to need both the soccer gods Katzeman speaks of and The Force that Jardy mentions.

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