Buiding 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 the second half standings. The second is removing each participants four worst weeks

SECOND HALF STANDINGS (MATCHES 18 TO 34)

OVERALL STANDINGS (AKA, BEST 24 MATCHES)

Match in Review (NY Red Bulls) and Preview (Columbus Crew)

Well, that was a disappointing match wasn't it? We all had hope. We believed! Sadly, that hope resulted in poor scores for all of us last match. Silver lining though is that we did good on the lineup predictions. Sigh. Oh well, on to another match.

The Whitecaps travel to woeful Columbus to take on the Crew Saturday. This will be an interesting match to predict. There are few teams as poor as the Whitecaps right now, but one that might rival them is Columbus. Therefore, a win is not out of the question. Add to that the Caps will have all their players returning from international duty and the chances seem to be even higher. The pertinent question may be who starts for the Whitecaps. While the lineup seemed fairly obvious last match, this match is more up in the air. Does Teibert start again? What happens at RB? Road game and poor form suggests that Morales may sit, but you never know.

Time to make your predictions!