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.

· 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 prior to the lineup being officially announced (1 hour before kickoff)

· 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!

· 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 first half standings. The second is removing each participants four worst weeks

FIRST HALF STANDINGS (MATCHES 1 TO 17)

Match in Review (San Jose Earthquakes) and Preview (Toronto FC)

Well, that wasn't a very pretty match! I suspect many people will be taking their mulligan over that SJ match. The best lineup predictions were from Tanzaniamagic and jamesmarkgraham with 8 (yikes!). Even had some 5 scores. The key to any points last match was predicting a San Jose victory. Doing so pushed mattock, chuckbiscuits, and Jph003 into a 3-way tie for the lead, while not picking San Jose dropped previous leader MarcoD77 down to 7th.

The Vancouver Whitecaps now have a home matchup against Canadian rival Toronto FC. The last time TFC were in Vancouver, they broke the hearts of Caps fans with a last-second victory in the Canadian Championship. I am sure the team will be wanting to put forth a good showing for their fans. The key question will be how much of an impact the trip to Mexico will have on the lineup. The Caps put forth a strong, but defensive lineup, with Montero getting his first start as a Whitecap. Comparatively, the San Jose match saw the Caps field a 'B-team' with McKendry getting his first MLS start. What will happen on Saturday?

The good news for Whitecaps fans is that it looks like Giovinco will not be playing. With TFC a little less potent, maybe that means a victory for the Caps? Does his absence change your goal prediction for TFC? We will see. Time to get your predictions in!

Injury: David Edgar, Brett Levis, Yordy Reyna,

Suspension: David Ousted (red card)