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.
September Standings (with Last 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 |
| 5 | 1 | 4 | dfree646 | 32 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | 2 | 3 | rtomsheck | 31 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| 2 | 3 | -1 | jacinto | 29 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | 3 | 0 | robbosg1 | 29 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 5 | -4 | DougCuth | 28 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 5 | 0 | AtlantisB | 28 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | 7 | -4 | BlackPanther99 | 27 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | 7 | -2 | olikchivas | 27 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 11 | 7 | 4 | The Squirrel | 27 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | 10 | -1 | GreyHouseEffect | 26 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 11 | -2 | chuckbiscuits | 25 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | 11 | 3 | Jph003 | 25 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 11 | 13 | -2 | Arjon | 24 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 14 | 1 | forbrydelsen | 20 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 15 | 14 | 1 | Rob R. Scott | 20 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 11 | 16 | -5 | MarcoD77 | 19 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 17 | -2 | Westsider13 | 14 | 6 | 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 | olikchivas | 115 |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | chuckbiscuits | 113 |
| 3 | 3 | 0 | BlackPanther99 | 109 |
| 4 | 4 | 0 | jacinto | 108 |
| 6 | 4 | 2 | dfree646 | 108 |
| 5 | 6 | -1 | AtlantisB | 106 |
| 9 | 7 | 2 | The Squirrel | 104 |
| 6 | 8 | -2 | GreyHouseEffect | 103 |
| 6 | 9 | -3 | Arjon | 102 |
| 12 | 9 | 3 | rtomsheck | 102 |
| 10 | 11 | -1 | robbosg1 | 101 |
| 11 | 12 | -1 | DougCuth | 97 |
| 17 | 13 | 4 | forbrydelsen | 92 |
| 13 | 14 | -1 | edmondk | 91 |
| 16 | 15 | 1 | Westsider13 | 89 |
| 18 | 15 | 3 | Jph003 | 89 |
| 14 | 17 | -3 | MarcoD77 | 88 |
| 14 | 18 | -4 | MarcusEarth | 82 |
| 19 | 18 | 1 | Rob R. Scott | 82 |
| 20 | 20 | 0 | justcaps | 27 |
| 20 | 20 | 0 | tecate | 27 |
| 22 | 22 | 0 | Joel Prosser | 7 |
Match in Review (Minnesota United) and Preview (Columbus Crew)
OMG!!! That was great! What a roller coaster of predictions. I don’t know if I have ever seen so many ‘who knows’ in prediction comments, and certainly never as many changes to lineups. People were making changes left and right. LOVE IT! The uncertainty of the lineup was reflected in the scores. A lot of 5, 6, and 7s. So many, myself included, thought that Marinovic would start. NOPE! Ousted, back in net. No one predicted banished Canadian defensive midfielder, but should be playing higher up the pitch, Russell Teibert would get a start. Well...that is not true. ONE person predicted it. dfree646. Actually, except for Ousted, dfree646 predicted it all! I had to go back and recount the lineup, because I didn’t believe they got 10 correct, but they did. With a correct winner and half correct score, they topped the match points, scoring 17! Not to be outdone, rtomsheck scored a respectful 16. However, we also had scores as low as 6. If it were not for a Caps victory, this week’s scores could have been so much lower. Only two people did not predict a Caps victory. The big match from dfree646 and rtomsheck moved them into 1st and 2nd respectfully in the September standings. Overall, the top 3 did not change, with olikchivas maintaining a 2 point lead over chuckbiscuits and 6 over BlackPanther99. AtlantisB fell out of the top 5, replaced by dfree646.
Now, on to Saturday’s match against Columbus. Should I even provide advice as it may be completely useless? I will try anyway, passing along the information I have. Although, some might be annoyed as I give away key information. Oh well! The Vancouver Whitecaps are in the midst of a four match home stretch. On Saturday, they face their stiffest competition in the Columbus Crew. Robbo was smart to rest some of his big names against Minnesota United, so he could field a strong squad against the Crew. I will be intrigued to see what score predictions you all have for this one.
In addition, the interval score predictions will be interesting. No one predicted a Caps goal in the first 15 on Wednesday night. It seems everyone was playing it safe. At least, that was my thought with my prediction. Do we see a change in the strategy or not? I think Vancouver needs to get off to a fast start if they want to be victorious on Saturday.
On to the all important lineup predictions. Like others noted last match, I have no idea what to expect in net. Marinovic seems to be played to give Ousted a break on road trips. However, Ousted still travels with the team, so it is a partial break, but not really. Does Marinovic remain a road-only keeper or does he get a chance to show at home for the first time? Most of us would predict yes, but Ousted just had a clean sheet and the back four has looked solid. Do you change it?
Speaking of the back four, we figure Williams should get a shot at some point, but how do you take Nerwinski out, who seems to be getting better each match he plays? de Jong was fantastic, but you figure Harvey will be back in at left back...right? Who knows. Tchani has to start against his former team, but he has played 180 already this week. Robbo has a tendency to start players against former teams, but he had that opportunity with Maund and didn’t do it. I think he has Tchani in there this match. Aly Ghazal looked great in his first match. I expect him to start again this week, but maybe not with Jacobson available. Or, maybe Jacobson comes in next week against Colorado or as a 60-minute sub for Ghazal? Up front? Bolanos is rumored to be back...possibly. Reyna has to start right? Techera was rested on Wednesday, so we expect him and Montero to be in there Saturday right?
There are some predictions that seem obvious, but as Robbo has shown of late, no prediction is obvious. Best of all, it has worked well for Robbo so far, so maybe we see that continue.
Time to get your predictions in. GOOD LUCK!
Injuries
I am lazy and don’t want to write them. Summation —> everyone is good expect the expected Edgar, Levis (sort of), and Laba. No yellow card accumulation, so all is good there.