Kickers vs Toronto and the last Prediction Game of Awesome of the season

Prior to every home game, a panel of so-called experts will predict the outcome of the Richmond Kickers game. Each expert receives one point for each correct prediction. At the end of the season, the winner gets a trophy and pack of gum.

September 15, 2015; 12:58 PM • by Richard Hayes

Richmond Kickers (9-7-11) play their final regular season home game Wednesday against Toronto FC 2 (6-15-4). Richmond Kickers are calling this Must Win Wednesday for good reason. After a devastating draw, on one of the worst pitches in the history of soccer in Harrisburg, the Kickers are now fighting three other teams for the final two spots. The Kickers are at a disadvantage because while two teams have two games left to play the Kickers only have this one. Plain and simple the Kickers need a win and ideally a loss by Charlotte who sit two points ahead and are also playing their final game.

The last three games have been called “must win” by Richmond, and the result was a lose and two draws. Eleven games ended in draws for the Richmond Kickers so that’s 22 points left on the table. When looking back at the season, no matter how it ends, the Kickers will have to take a hard look at that stat and figure out a way to correct it next year.

Defender Braeden Troyer (#31) needs to have another stellar game and keep Toronto off the scoreboard. It’s a task that the Kickers should have well in hand against an impotent Toronto offense which has only scored 24 goals in 25 games. George Davis IV (#11) and Matthew Delicate need to (#7) each have six goals and Jason Yeisley (#17) has 12 of the team’s 39 goals. These three need to have a strong game against Toronto keeper Quillan Roberts (#40) who has made 14 appearances with the USL side this season, posting four shutouts.

Official game preview is here, kickoff is at the usual 7:00 PM. OKTOBERFEST,  starts at 5:30 PM with authentic oompah music by The Sauerkrauts, brats & German potato salad from Metzger Bar & Butchery, and two drink tickets for the dozen seasonal craft beers on tap for just $20.

	Prediction	Reasoning	Score
RVANews Soccer Guru		The team is angry. Angry that their playoff chances have to come down to this one game and still need other games to go their way. This anger will be shown on the filed in the form of an avalanche of goals and righteous fire the like of which have never been seen before in City Stadium. People in Carytown will look towards the stadium and be quoted as saying, “Damn that’s some righteous fire.”	7
Red Army		It all comes down to this. Good vs Evil, Right vs Wrong, America vs Canada. If you can’t make it to this, cancel your plans and make it instead. Let’s make City Stadium Great Again (I hear this is the hot phrase right now) and show our support as the Kickers take a nice 3-1 win. And then next week we all road trip…somewhere	9
Richmond Kickers		This is do or die for Richmond. No options other than just win. Besides, we need to get revenge on Toronto after they somehow grabbed a last second victory the last time we played each other.	8
Total Soccer Show		The years 1994 and 2003 predate my arrival in RVA, so I literally can’t imagine a world where the Richmond Kickers miss the playoffs. I’m pushing all my chips to the middle and saying the Kickers win 3-0 with a Yeisley volley, a Delicate header, and a Gorres strike from distance.	9

RVANews Soccer Guru (Richard Hayes): All of Richard’s soccer knowledge comes from playing FIFA on the original Playstation and standing in bars, drinking, and yelling at the television. He also helps run RVA DCU and is a member of American Outlaws Richmond Chapter, which mainly involves drinking and yelling at televisions.

Red Army (Matt Myers) — Reigning Champion: Matt was sent off by Leigh Cowlishaw in a summer camp scrimmage as a pre-teen but has not held that against the team. He’s coming to grips with being a relatively old man now after seeing the youngsters in the Red Army and on the Kickers roster. He’s also attended way more matches than he should admit to, especially for having lived in Richmond a total of one out of the last 13 years.

Richmond Kickers (Kickeroo): The Kicker from down under. He doesn’t really like anyone who isn’t a fan of the Kickers. A daredevil who will pretty much try anything and everything but would rather not talk (on advice from the lawyers) about the incident with the scooter and the Flaming Hoop of Death, he’s also a sensitive marsupial who enjoys long walks on a dew-covered soccer field and watching the sun set behind the goal post. He also shares something with the new Kickers beer, Kick It Hunny hops.

Total Soccer Show (Daryl Grove): Daryl is English, so everything he says about footsoccerball naturally carries more weight because he says it in a British accent. He is also part of the excellent local radio show and podcast Total Soccer Show that keeps track of all soccer related things in an intelligent and fun way. If you’re not listening to the Total Soccer Show, you need to change that posthaste.

September 15, 2015 12:58 PM · in Fan of the Fan, Hills and Heights, and more 0