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 Previous Match Results)
| 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 |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | dfree646 | 77 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | DougCuth | 72 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 3 | 0 | robbosg1 | 68 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 4 | -1 | rtomsheck | 64 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 5 | -2 | jacinto | 63 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 5 | 1 | The Squirrel | 63 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 5 | 7 | GreyHouseEffect | 63 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 8 | -1 | olikchivas | 61 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 9 | 0 | AtlantisB | 59 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | 9 | 2 | chuckbiscuits | 59 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | 11 | 6 | Westsider13 | 55 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| 8 | 12 | -4 | Arjon | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 13 | -4 | BlackPanther99 | 52 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | 13 | 1 | forbrydelsen | 52 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 15 | 0 | Rob R. Scott | 51 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 16 | -4 | Jph003 | 50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | 17 | -1 | MarcoD77 | 47 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | 18 | 0 | edmondk | 31 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | 19 | 0 | Slowkid | 20 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | 20 | 0 | Joel Prosser | 7 | 0 | 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 | dfree646 | 153 |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | olikchivas | 149 |
| 3 | 3 | 0 | chuckbiscuits | 143 |
| 3 | 3 | 0 | jacinto | 143 |
| 5 | 5 | 0 | BlackPanther99 | 142 |
| 7 | 6 | 1 | DougCuth | 141 |
| 10 | 7 | 3 | robbosg1 | 140 |
| 11 | 7 | 4 | GreyHouseEffect | 140 |
| 6 | 9 | -3 | Arjon | 139 |
| 7 | 9 | -2 | The Squirrel | 139 |
| 7 | 11 | -4 | AtlantisB | 138 |
| 12 | 12 | 0 | rtomsheck | 134 |
| 14 | 13 | 1 | Westsider13 | 130 |
| 13 | 14 | -1 | forbrydelsen | 124 |
| 14 | 15 | -1 | edmondk | 122 |
| 16 | 16 | 0 | Jph003 | 120 |
| 17 | 17 | 0 | MarcoD77 | 116 |
| 18 | 18 | 0 | Rob R. Scott | 113 |
| 19 | 19 | 0 | MarcusEarth | 82 |
| 20 | 20 | 0 | justcaps | 27 |
| 20 | 20 | 0 | tecate | 27 |
| 22 | 22 | 0 | Slowkid | 20 |
| 22 | 23 | -1 | Joel Prosser | 14 |
Match in Review (Seattle Sounders) and Preview (Sporting Kansas City)
Sigh.....I am not quite sure what else to write. That certainly did not turn out the way that we predicted...and who saw that Starting XI? I guess with three matches in a week, and two being on the road, we were going to see Sheanon Williams. Sure, Jake Nerwinski played three the previous week, but those were all home matches. Same could probably be said about Aly Ghazal. Only one person saw most of the changes coming: dfree646. They were the only person to correctly predict more than 8...and they did TEN! Nice job on the couple of late changes. If only dfree646 had predicted a Seattle victory they might be running away with this one! Lucky for the chasing DougCuth, their poor lineup prediction was offset by correctly predicting a Sounders victory, so they kept pace with dfree646 in the September race!
A couple of surprising ‘0’ from regulars. That is the struggle with a midweek match. Can be easy to miss it. However, it was a bad match all around, as 10 of the 19 regular predictors right now used this match as their one of their two throw-aways; or their score was even with their second worst match total and thus could be used as a throw-away. We were all just too optimistic about this one.
A shout out to Westsider13. They were the only participant to correctly predict a 3-0 Sounders victory. I am not sure if that should be lauded or booed! It did give them the top score for the week though (16). Finally, I will say it for DougCuth, they could be in the lead if not for being away on holidays at the start of the month and predicting their lineup a week and a half in advance. Tough to score points when your predicted players are suspended! Nice showing despite that DougCuth.
On to Sporting Kansas City. It was a disappointing showing from Bolanos on Wednesday evening, and maybe he just was not ready to start again. I doubt we see him on Saturday, but maybe we do...we won’t. I felt Harvey had a so-so match. Does de Jong get an opportunity against SKC? I would like to see that, but I am not sure that we will. Robbo has rotated his squad, so I would suspect that those that have been starting lately who did not start against Seattle will feature on Saturday. One player that will not feature is Tony Tchani. He is out, due to the red card he picked up at the end of Wednesday’s defeat. Does Teibert get another opportunity or do we see Jacobson come into the match?
SKC is undefeated at home this season, so it will be hard for the Vancouver Whitecaps to come away from that match with a victory, but they sort of need to if they want to win the Western Conference. Should be a good one.
Finally, this is the last match of September, so it will be for the monthly ‘championship’. I think it is a two-horse race, with dfree646 certainly having the edge, but with the lead being five points, a correct winner prediction by DougCuth and not dfree646 draws us even!
Known Out (will be updated as information becomes available)
Injured: Brett Levis, David Edgar, Matias Laba
Questionable:
Suspension: Tony Tchani (red card)