here's predicts for this weekend (5/12 & 5/13). home teams are listed first.
but first, a quick word on TopDrawer Rankings. the u16 thru u18 rankings for May were just released and the u13 thru u15 rankings will be out next week. get that TD's rankings are subjective and am sure that teams are over being left out of the ranking at this point in the season but the ranking - in lieu of other criteria - does affect college interest in players .
so, if anyone knows folks at TD, maybe plant a seed for TD to look at their u15 numbers before they publish. Looking at the data, the Strikers, LA Galaxy, SD Surf and De Anza should all be in TopDrawer's Top 25 along with the current Top 25 from socal and norcal.
predict: Barca 1 vs Strikers 3 note: Barca is hard to predict, with performances often varying from expected. not sure if it's the travel, or if line-ups vary significantly game to game. so that's the disclaimer for this one. will take a deeper dive over the summer to figure this out.
predict: Albion 2 vs Nomads 1
predict: LA Galaxy 2 vs SD Surf 1 *match to watch* SD Surf just beat the Nomads and tied FCG, and LAG just beat the Strikers and beat FCG, so this match is a great measure of who is next best - after LAFC - in SoCal. LAG has one of the best defenses in the country at this point of the season with six shutouts in their last nine games and an offense that has perked up in the same time period. And SD Surf is solid on both sides of the ball as well.
predict: Pateadores 1 vs LAFC 3 *match to watch* last time these teams met, it was 4-1 LAFC. Pats have improved since while LAFC has plateaued from a data pov, granted this has happened at the same time they've also taken steps to play youngers up an age (eg, vs Albion last week w/ LAFC 05s playing about 80% of the available field player minutes). Pats are playing at home and a decent home field advantage effect. Pats are clear underdogs but they have a shot at making things interesting.
predict: LAUFA 3 vs Breakers 1 note: socal vs norcal are difficult to predict given the overall difference in the quality across teams in each group. over the summer, will figure out a way to systematically discount/premium team ratings based on group quality but in the meantime am just going to post a disclaimer
predict: LAGSD 1 vs De Anza note: see above disclaimer
predict: LAGSD 2 vs Breakers 3 note: see above disclaimer
predict: FC Golden State 4 vs Arsenal 1
predict: LAUFA 2 vs De Anza 1 note: see above disclaimer