Guess the Starting XI and Final Score (MLS Match 11: Sporting Kansas City)

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.

·               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!

Additional May Scoring (Goal Scorer)

·         You can predict one goal scorer for the Whitecaps (if you post multiple scorers, I will take the first one you write as your prediction).

·         If you correctly predict the goal scorer, you get 3 additional points. If you incorrectly predict the goal scorer, you lose 1 point.

·         You can a) choose to predict a goal scorer, b) predict no Whitecaps player will score, or c) elect to not make any prediction.

·         If you do not make a scorer prediction you will not lose any 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.

I am posting TWO different sets of standings. The first is the results from the previous match with the monthly standings. . The second is the first half standings (with your worst two match predictions removed).

PREVIOUS MATCH STANDINGS with MAY STANDINGS

FIRST HALF STANDINGS (MATCHES 1 TO 17)

Match in Review (Houston Dynamo) and Preview (Sporting Kansas City)

Another match, another high scoring week for participants. Some were optimistic the Caps could get some more points on the road, but for those that knew better, it was a very strong week. Ignoring goal scorer, we will get to that shortly, we had 2 perfect weeks (edmondk and Arjon). A close second were DougCuth, Jph003, WestCoastCule, and Soccer Mum. Each had a perfect lineup and winner prediction. Now about those goal scorers. It was interesting. The last match everyone wanted to try out the new goal scorer category. This match, a lot less. In fact, half of the participants did not make a prediction. Those that did were all wrong. Maybe this is more challenging than we thought. Surprisingly, or maybe not, no one picked Shea to get another. In my case, my prediction (Mezquida) never even entered the match!. Will be interesting to see what predictions are like this week, given that it is a home match.

Speaking of the home match, the Caps will face Sporting Kansas City. It will be their first match at home in a while. With the same lineup the last four matches, it seems logical that we see it again. However, this is a home match. While the Caps will want to show well at home, don't forget SKC is a GOOD defensive team. They shutout the best in the league; even on the road. This could actually be a tough one to predict. Adding to the complexity, SKC had a midweek match against Seattle. The bad news is that they beat Seattle 3-0. Tricky, tricky.

KNOWN OUT (Will be updated as information becomes available)

Injury: David Edgar, Brett Levis, Yordy Reyna, Erik Hurtado

Suspension: NONE