Predictions: Sporting Kansas City vs New York Red Bulls

The OaM Prediction Challenge is back and bigger than ever. The winner of this year's competition gets a shiny replica of a now defunct WWE title belt! (Only for a few months, we are on a budget here.)

Here are the rules:

• Every week, each OaM and Red Bull Rant member will predict the results of New York Red Bull matches.
  • Red Bull Rant Guests & Let's Play FIFA results will be included, but are not eligible for the belt.
• How to earn points:
  • Predicting a Win/Loss/Draw correctly is worth 1 point each match.
  • Predicting the exact score is worth an additional 2 points.
  • Maximum possible points in a year: 102
• In the event of a tie, the correct number of Exact Scores predicted correctly will be used as a tiebreaker.

You can follow our predictions all season long using our Google Spreadsheet. Here's our predictions for this week:

Match 1 - Sporting Kansas City vs New York Red Bulls

Aaron Bauer: 2-1 Win

The Red Bulls get help from two fluke BWP goals in the second half after falling down 1-0 within the first 10 minutes. Same as it ever was.

Anthony Ali: 1-0 Loss

I'm going to go the pessimistic route, mostly because of our center backs. None of the pairs that Marsch used in preseason had any genuine chemistry, and while that does take time to develop, it won't show in round 1. That being said, I do hope that I'm pleasantly surprised!

Austin Fido: 2-1 Loss

KC's off-season changes haven't been as high profile as those of RBNY, but there's a quiet remodeling taking place at the back. Two teams in transition (though one more than the other) means I haven't the faintest idea what to expect. So I'm defaulting to home advantage swings it for KC.

Frank Maduri: 2-1 Loss

It is the first game for many new faces to work together for RBNY so I think they will need some time to shake the rust off and work out some chemistry issues. SKC on the other hand is returning a core of guys that is familiar with playing together and will be at home which is a big advantage.

Jason Iapicco: 1-1 Draw

Listen to this week's Red Bull Rant.

Lester Townsend: 3-0 Loss

Does anybody other than the people who put them together have faith in Damien Perrinelle and Ronald Zubar? The defense has been hastily put together, and KC's attackers have good chemistry. Do you know who doesn't have good chemistry yet? The Red Bulls' attackers.

Let's Play FIFA: 1-1 Draw

Watch this week's Let's Play FIFA.

Matt Coyne

No prediction submitted.

Patrick MacDonald: 2-1 Loss

Listen to this week's Red Bull Rant.

RBR Guest - Daniel Feuerstein: 2-1 Win

Listen to this week's Red Bull Rant.

Truman: 1-1 Draw

Listen to this week's Red Bull Rant.