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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.
STANDINGS
I am posting TWO different sets of standings. The first is the final standings for June (with previous match result). The second is the first half standings (with worst two match predictions removed).
FINAL JUNE STANDINGS
| Previous Rank | Current Ranking | Change in | User | Overall | Match 16 (Chicago Fire) | ||||
| Ranking | Score | Lineup | Bonus | Winner | Score | Quotes | |||
| 2 | 1 | 1 | AtlantisB | 69 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | 2 | -1 | edmondk | 66 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 2 | 2 | olikchivas | 66 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | 4 | 2 | The Squirrel | 65 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | 5 | -1 | rtomsheck | 61 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | 6 | 4 | Westsider13 | 60 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | 7 | 4 | Arjon | 58 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | 7 | 4 | forbrydelsen | 58 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | 9 | 4 | GreyHouseEffect | 56 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 9 | 6 | chuckbiscuits | 56 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | 11 | -3 | MarcoD77 | 55 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 11 | -2 | justcaps | 55 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | 11 | 2 | Jph003 | 55 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 16 | 14 | 2 | DougCuth | 53 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 15 | -13 | jacinto | 51 | |||||
| 7 | 16 | -9 | BlackPanther99 | 47 | |||||
| 17 | 17 | 0 | Soccer Mum | 31 | |||||
| 19 | 18 | 1 | tecate | 31 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | 19 | - | MarcusEarth | 26 | |||||
FIRST HALF STANDINGS (MATCHES 1 TO 17)
| Previous Rank | Current Ranking | Change in | User | Overall |
| Ranking | Score | |||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | Arjon | 211 |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | Jph003 | 206 |
| 5 | 3 | 2 | AtlantisB | 202 |
| 5 | 3 | 2 | olikchivas | 202 |
| 3 | 5 | -2 | rtomsheck | 200 |
| 7 | 6 | 1 | edmondk | 197 |
| 9 | 7 | 2 | The Squirrel | 196 |
| 4 | 8 | -4 | BlackPanther99 | 194 |
| 7 | 8 | -1 | MarcoD77 | 194 |
| 11 | 10 | 1 | chuckbiscuits | 192 |
| 10 | 11 | -1 | justcaps | 190 |
| 12 | 12 | 0 | forbrydelsen | 184 |
| 14 | 13 | 1 | DougCuth | 181 |
| 16 | 14 | 2 | GreyHouseEffect | 179 |
| 18 | 15 | 3 | Westsider13 | 172 |
| 12 | 16 | -4 | jacinto | 168 |
| 15 | 17 | -2 | Soccer Mum | 164 |
| 17 | 18 | -1 | WestCoastCule | 156 |
| 19 | 19 | 0 | MarcusEarth | 139 |
| 20 | 20 | 0 | mattock | 98 |
Match in Review (Chicago Fire) and Preview (New York City FC)
I swear I did not rig it! Congrats to......ME for winning the June contest, thanks to getting one additional lineup prediction correct (and receiving a bonus point for it), and predicting that the Vancouver Whitecaps would be shut out. Not the most enjoyable way to win the contest, but so be it.
It was a tough match in Chicago. There were also some lineup surprises. Half of the players on the injured list were in the 18, including Christian Bolanos, who made a surprise start. The Whitecaps will now face NYCFC at home on Wednesday night. It is a short turnaround, so it is unclear whether Bolanos will start again. Carl Robinson will not want to rush back his injured players and have them experience a setback, however, he is pretty thin when it comes to options, so he might not have any other choice.
Players like Tony Tchani and Brek Shea have not been pulling their weight of late. Do we see them exit the lineup? Maybe Yordy Reyna gets his first start and we see a change of formation? There is a big question at the back, thanks to Matias Laba receiving a red card in the match against Chicago Fire. Is Kendall Waston healthy enough to enter back into the lineup? If so that makes replacing Laba easy, as you simply move Jacobson up the park. However, if Waston is unable to go, what happens? Does Cole Seiler slot into defense? Do the Caps continue with 4-1-4-1 and play with just Tchani holding?
This is the final match of the first half, so it will decide our champion. Need to make your predictions count for this one! GOOD LUCK!!!
KNOWN OUT (Will be updated as information becomes available)
Injury: Brett Levis, David Edgar, Kendall Waston
Suspension: Matias Laba
International Duty: Sam Adekugbe, Russell Teibert, Marcel de Jong, Alphonso Davies