Building off of the column written by one of our previous regulars, Spencer, I have decided to continue with a match thread for guessing the Starting XI and Final Score for each Vancouver Whitecaps match. However, the one change I will make is that we will keep track of scores throughout the season with an overall winner, and bragging rights, at the end.

Now for some details on how this will run.

Contest article will be posted 2-3 days prior to game day

We will keep track of overall, first/second half, and monthly winners so that late joiners will have something to play for

As the MLS season is 34 matches, the overall standings will be based on each participant’s top 30 match guesses. This will allow everyone a few misses or bad guesses throughout the season.

Predictions will be 'valid' if posted at least 2 hours before kickoff.

You receive 1 point for every player you correctly guess to be in the Starting XI.

You get 5 points for correctly guessing Win/Lose/Draw.

And, as a bonus, you receive 3 points if you correctly guess the final score. While this is the most challenging, I also think that it is the most 'luck based', so I did not want to make it worth too many points.

I will have a separate ‘contest’ for Voyageurs and Champions League.

At the end of each week, I will tally the scores and update the standings, to be posted with the next week's match thread.

I am posting TWO different sets of standings. The first is including every week. The second is removing each participants four worst weeks

ALL WEEKS

REMOVAL OF WORST FOUR MATCHES (AKA, BEST 3 MATCHES)

Match in Review (RSL)

As expected, the lovefest for the Vancouver Whitecaps ceased this week with 5 people predicting a RSL win. It is no surprise that those who predicted the win vaulted up the standings, given the small gaps between contenders. A special congrats goes out to Corbeaunoir, who becomes the FIRST person to correctly predict the final score and get the 3-point bonus. He ended the week with 18 points; one short of perfect! To remain competitive though, Corbeaunoir will have to remain vigilant in getting in their weekly prediction as they already have three 0's attached to their name. On the other end of the spectrum, Edmondk, Norselord, Arjon, and AtlantisB have input predictions for each match and thus have the widest leeway of poor picks going forward.

Time to put in your predictions for this weekend's matchup at BC Place with FC Dallas. It should be a great game, as usual when these two teams meet. Adding to the intensity is Blas Perez playing (and starting?) against his former team.