Welcome back for another season of our contest "Guess the Starting XI and Final Score". As always, thanks to former regular Spencer for starting this several years ago. Like last season, we will keep the non-MLS and MLS standings separate. We will also do a first half, second half, and overall standings. Finally, I will have various monthly contests where we add in an ‘extra’ thing to predict, like goal scorers, cards, suspensions, etc. With the basics out of the way, let’s get to the scoring.
MLS Scoring Details
- 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
- I will have a separate ‘contest’ for Voyageurs and Champions League.
- 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.
- The first/second Half standings will exclude your worst two match guesses.
- Predictions will be 'valid' if posted prior to the lineup being officially announced (1 hour before kickoff)
How Scoring is Determined
- You receive 1 point for every player you correctly guess to be in the Starting XI. Receive 1 bonus point for correctly predicting 10 starters. Receive 3 bonus points for correctly predicting 11 starters.
- You get 5 points for correctly guessing Win/Lose/Draw.
- You receive 1 point for correctly guessing each team’s final score. Receive 1 bonus point for correctly guessing both teams final score (for a total of 3).
- That means, if you correctly predict the Starting XI, Final Score, and Winner, you can earn 22 points!
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
Final September Standings (with SKC Match)
| Previous Rank | Current Ranking | Change in Ranking | User | Overall Score | Lineup | Bonus | Winner | Score | Interval Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous Rank | Current Ranking | Change in Ranking | User | Overall Score | Lineup | Bonus | Winner | Score | Interval Score |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | dfree646 | 93 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | DougCuth | 80 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | 3 | 1 | rtomsheck | 76 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 4 | -1 | robbosg1 | 75 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 5 | 0 | The Squirrel | 71 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | 5 | 0 | GreyHouseEffect | 71 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | 7 | -2 | jacinto | 69 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 8 | 0 | olikchivas | 68 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 9 | 0 | chuckbiscuits | 67 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | 10 | -1 | AtlantisB | 66 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | 11 | 5 | Jph003 | 65 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| 11 | 12 | -1 | Westsider13 | 64 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | 13 | 0 | BlackPanther99 | 63 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 14 | 1 | Rob R. Scott | 62 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 13 | 15 | -2 | forbrydelsen | 60 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 17 | 16 | 1 | MarcoD77 | 59 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 17 | -5 | Arjon | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | 18 | 0 | edmondk | 39 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 19 | 19 | 0 | Slowkid | 28 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 20 | 20 | 0 | Joel Prosser | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Second Half Standings
| Previous Rank | Current Ranking | Change in Ranking | User | Overall Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous Rank | Current Ranking | Change in Ranking | User | Overall Score |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | dfree646 | 169 |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | olikchivas | 157 |
| 5 | 3 | 2 | BlackPanther99 | 153 |
| 3 | 4 | -1 | chuckbiscuits | 151 |
| 3 | 5 | -2 | jacinto | 150 |
| 6 | 5 | 1 | DougCuth | 150 |
| 7 | 7 | 0 | GreyHouseEffect | 148 |
| 7 | 8 | -1 | robbosg1 | 147 |
| 9 | 8 | 1 | The Squirrel | 147 |
| 11 | 10 | 1 | AtlantisB | 146 |
| 12 | 10 | 2 | rtomsheck | 146 |
| 9 | 12 | -3 | Arjon | 144 |
| 13 | 13 | 0 | Westsider13 | 139 |
| 16 | 14 | 2 | Jph003 | 135 |
| 14 | 15 | -1 | forbrydelsen | 132 |
| 15 | 16 | -1 | edmondk | 130 |
| 17 | 17 | 0 | MarcoD77 | 128 |
| 18 | 18 | 0 | Rob R. Scott | 122 |
| 19 | 19 | 0 | MarcusEarth | 82 |
| 20 | 20 | 0 | justcaps | 27 |
| 20 | 20 | 0 | tecate | 27 |
| 22 | 22 | 0 | Slowkid | 26 |
| 23 | 23 | 0 | Joel Prosser | 14 |
Match in Review (Sporting Kansas City) and Preview (New York Red Bulls)
Well that was unexpected! The Vancouver Whitecaps started a less than stellar Starting XI against the undefeated-at-home SKC and came away with a win! Even more unexpected, our September leader dfree646 did not put in a prediction...or at least I thought. I would have hated the September contest to be won because the person in first did not put in prediction for the final match. Luckily, dfree646 pointed me in the correct direction. While I do say that people need to make their prediction in this thread, I will take the match preview as acceptable. The comment about ‘in this thread’ is for those on Facebook and Twitter. Speaking of which, did you know we were on Facebook? WE ARE!!! Make sure to like us (https://www.facebook.com/86forever/).
Congratulations to September winner dfree646, who finished off the month in style, somehow predicting the Starting XI less de Jong (had Techera instead). dfree646 now joins other monthly winners chuckbiscuits (August), AtlantisB (June), jacinto (May), and Arjon (April). Since there are only three matches left in the season, we will not be having a monthly contest for October. However, stay tuned. Maybe we will do something fun for the playoffs.
Back to the SKC match, only three people were drinking the Hurtado kool-aid as Rob R. Scott put it (dfree646, Rob, and Westsider13). The rest of us thought that Fredy Montero would for sure start in such an important match. Carl Robinson said ‘HA!’ to all of us. That made for some pretty weak lineup scores. A lot of ‘7’. Only five participants correctly predicted a Caps victory, although several received ‘1’point for correctly guessing one goal for Vancouver (in a loss). Meanwhile, Jph003 was the ONLY one to correctly predict a Whitecaps 1-0 victory. Congrats. Not sure if it was a true belief or a calculated risk to try to jump up the standings. Well, it worked, as they were the biggest mover in the September standings, moving up five places. Finally, Rob R. Scott and newcomer Slowkid were the only participants to correctly predict a Caps goal in the 46-60th minute. Congrats on the bonus!
Wow, this is getting long. Okay, let’s be brief on the upcoming match...but not too brief. Caps are in the Big Apple this weekend, where they have yet to lose. That is a good sign. However, regular starters Waston, Bolanos, and Reyna are away on international duty (along with backup keeper Marinovic). That leaves the door open for some bench players to get a start. Not sure if Techera and Jacobson are back with the team, as their partners were giving birth (Techera) or expecting (Jacobson). If not, we could see quite the shakeup in the Starting XI. Does that mean the Caps are doomed to lose? That is what we thought prior to SKC and Orlando matches and look how those turned out. Going to be tough. Could be another low scoring match. We will see!
Good luck!
Known Out (will be updated as information becomes available)
Injured: Brett Levis, David Edgar, Matias Laba
International Duty: Kendall Waston (Costa Rica), Christian Bolanos (Costa Rica), Yordy Reyna (Peru), Stefan Marinovic (New Zealand)
Suspension: Christian Bolanos (red card)