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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!
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.
PREVIOUS MATCH STANDINGS (Top 20 with all matches include)
| Previous Rank | Current Ranking | Change in | User | Overall | Match 12 (DC United) | |||
| Ranking | Score | Lineup | Bonus | Winner | Score | |||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | Arjon | 175 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | Jph003 | 172 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 3 | 2 | WestCoastCule | 156 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 4 | 3 | rtomsheck | 154 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 5 | -2 | AtlantisB | 153 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | 6 | -3 | chuckbiscuits | 152 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 6 | 1 | MarcoD77 | 152 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 8 | -2 | olikchivas | 149 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | 9 | 0 | justcaps | 148 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | 9 | 4 | BlackPanther99 | 148 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | 11 | 1 | edmondk | 146 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 12 | -3 | The Squirrel | 144 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 13 | -4 | DougCuth | 142 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | 14 | 0 | forbrydelsen | 135 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | 15 | 2 | Soccer Mum | 134 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 16 | -1 | GreyHouseEffect | 131 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | 17 | -1 | Westsider13 | 123 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | 18 | 1 | jacinto | 119 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | 19 | 1 | MarcusEarth | 113 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | 20 | -2 | mattock | 98 | ||||
FIRST HALF STANDINGS (MATCHES 1 TO 17 with WORST 2 MATCHES REMOVED)
| Previous Rank | Current Ranking | Change in | User | Overall |
| Ranking | Score | |||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | Arjon | 157 |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | Jph003 | 152 |
| 3 | 3 | 0 | rtomsheck | 143 |
| 4 | 4 | 0 | WestCoastCule | 142 |
| 8 | 5 | 3 | BlackPanther99 | 141 |
| 5 | 6 | -1 | MarcoD77 | 139 |
| 7 | 6 | 1 | olikchivas | 139 |
| 6 | 8 | -2 | chuckbiscuits | 138 |
| 9 | 9 | 0 | AtlantisB | 137 |
| 10 | 10 | 0 | justcaps | 136 |
| 11 | 11 | 0 | edmondk | 135 |
| 12 | 12 | 0 | The Squirrel | 133 |
| 13 | 13 | 0 | DougCuth | 130 |
| 14 | 14 | 0 | Soccer Mum | 129 |
| 15 | 15 | 0 | forbrydelsen | 127 |
| 16 | 16 | 0 | GreyHouseEffect | 125 |
| 17 | 17 | 0 | jacinto | 120 |
| 18 | 18 | 0 | Westsider13 | 116 |
| 19 | 19 | 0 | MarcusEarth | 113 |
| 20 | 20 | 0 | mattock | 98 |
| 21 | 21 | 0 | Tanzaniamagic | 52 |
| 22 | 22 | 0 | jamesmarkgraham | 50 |
| 23 | 23 | 0 | Wardy1700 | 41 |
| 24 | 24 | 0 | Norwegian Would | 38 |
| 25 | 25 | 0 | GTCrane | 33 |
| 26 | 26 | 0 | soccerdad66 | 32 |
| 27 | 27 | 0 | Zee Samnani | 22 |
| 28 | 28 | 0 | smatthew | 20 |
| 29 | 29 | 0 | Acumen | 9 |
| 29 | 29 | 0 | CalgaryRik | 9 |
| 29 | 29 | 0 | RedArmyNic | 9 |
| 29 | 29 | 0 | WRCAPS | 9 |
| 33 | 33 | 0 | ArrSea | 8 |
Match in Review (D.C. United) and Preview (Atlanta United)
Well, that D.C. United match was unexpected wasn't it! Obviously, no one predicted the Vancouver Whitecaps would lose, so it was a low scoring week. However, shout-out to BlackPanther who correctly predicted the lineup. That bumped them up three spots in the First Half standings. It is still a two-horse race though in those standings, between Arjon and Jph003. Remember though, we are going to match 17, so we still have some time for others to catch them. Anything could happen.
On Saturday, the Caps will face Atlanta United (I keep trying to write Atlantis). While this is a home match, it will certainly be a challenge. Miguel Almerion is two-week MLS Player of the Week and has shown that the money Atlanta paid has been worth it. Yet, this isn't a one-man attack. He has had plenty of support from his teammates. What is scary is that their main striker has been absent of late and they are still clicking. This could be a tough one for the Caps and a high scoring one too.
Matias Laba will be back from his suspension, so I would expect him to be in the lineup, however, on Tuesday, the Caps saw Nicolas Mezquida go down with a high ankle sprain. Those are always difficult, so don't expect to see him for some time. While Bernie Ibini is practicing, he probably is a few weeks away still. Will Carl Robinson go with his typical lineup or do we see something different? Something tells me it will be a high lineup prediction week. The key will be correctly predicting a win/loss/draw.
Good luck!
KNOWN OUT (Will be updated as information becomes available)
Injury: Brett Levis, David Edgar, Yordy Reyna, Erik Hurtado, Christian Dean, Bernie Ibini, Nicolás Mezquida
Suspension: None