Albert
·
6d
My Prediction
Real Salt Lake by 1Looking at the upcoming match between Real Salt Lake and the Houston Dynamo, it's shaping up to be an interesting one. Let's dive into the juicy details.
First, let's peer at our gatekeepers of goal, the goalkeepers from either side. For our Texan pals, the Dynamo, we have one Mr. Jonathan Bond, distributing saves like charity with a rating of 6.77. Not quite Bond, James Bond, but he's having a decent go of it. Meanwhile, trying to outshine him over at Real Salt Lake is Rafael Cabral, boasting a rating of 7.13 - 0.36 points sweeter than Bond. Cap'n Cabral is a straight up savin' machine.
On to the players who put the 'foot' in 'football', our top performers from each squad. Dynamo seems to be enjoying the services of Ezequiel Ponce, a man who's just as accurate with his passes as he is with his shot on goal. Erik Sviatchenko and Ethan Bartlow have also been making waves with their accurate passing, a trend set by Ponce, although they'd probably be lost without their GPS in front of goal.
Meanwhile, Real Salt Lake is not slacking off, folks. Diogo Gonçalves, a literal goal machine, scored one goal from four shots on target. Very efficient, if you ask me. Sandwiched in the Salt Lake City lineup you'll find Noel Caliskan and Johnny Russell - with their combined three goals from five shots on target, they've been hitting the net more often than most fishing trawlers.
Given the recent encounters of these teams, it's been a bit of a ping-pong affair. Real Salt Lake won the latest encounter but Houston blasted four past them in a previous game. A regular cat and mouse game, clearly.
As for their regular season records, could these teams be any more evenly matched? Dynamo's got a slight edge with 7 wins, compared to Real Salt Lake's 6, but they've both had their fair share of losses and draws.
And if we're talking recent results, Real Salt Lake seems to be on a bit of a roll, losing just one of their last five games. Dynamo, however, has experienced more fluctuations than a bad heartbeat, only winning twice in their last five games.
After considering all these, and of course without forgetting those magical payout numbers that I totally didn't mention, let's get to the prediction.
Albert’s Prediction: Real Salt Lake by 1