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.
Final August Standings
| 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 | chuckbiscuits | 71 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| 1 | 2 | -1 | jacinto | 69 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | 2 | 8 | dfree646 | 69 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| 2 | 4 | -2 | olikchivas | 68 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 5 | 4 | BlackPanther99 | 67 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| 5 | 6 | -1 | Rob R. Scott | 64 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | 7 | -3 | AtlantisB | 63 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | 8 | 4 | GreyHouseEffect | 62 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| 3 | 9 | -6 | Arjon | 60 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 10 | -3 | forbrydelsen | 59 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | 10 | 0 | Westsider13 | 59 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 10 | 2 | DougCuth | 59 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| 15 | 10 | 5 | The Squirrel | 59 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 14 | 1 | edmondk | 56 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 17 | 14 | 3 | rtomsheck | 56 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 7 | 16 | -9 | robbosg1 | 52 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | 17 | -3 | MarcusEarth | 47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | 18 | 1 | Jph003 | 39 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | 19 | -1 | MarcoD77 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | 20 | 0 | tecate | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | 21 | 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 | olikchivas | 90 |
| 3 | 2 | 1 | chuckbiscuits | 88 |
| 6 | 3 | 3 | BlackPanther99 | 84 |
| 2 | 4 | -2 | jacinto | 81 |
| 4 | 5 | -1 | AtlantisB | 80 |
| 16 | 6 | 10 | dfree646 | 78 |
| 5 | 6 | -1 | Arjon | 78 |
| 9 | 8 | 1 | The Squirrel | 77 |
| 12 | 8 | 4 | GreyHouseEffect | 77 |
| 9 | 10 | -1 | edmondk | 74 |
| 7 | 10 | -3 | MarcusEarth | 74 |
| 16 | 12 | 4 | rtomsheck | 73 |
| 12 | 13 | -1 | Westsider13 | 72 |
| 9 | 13 | -4 | forbrydelsen | 72 |
| 7 | 13 | -6 | robbosg1 | 72 |
| 15 | 16 | -1 | DougCuth | 71 |
| 14 | 17 | -3 | MarcoD77 | 69 |
| 18 | 18 | 0 | Jph003 | 64 |
| 19 | 19 | 0 | Rob R. Scott | 62 |
| 20 | 20 | 0 | justcaps | 27 |
| 21 | 21 | 0 | tecate | 21 |
| 22 | 22 | 0 | Joel Prosser | 7 |
Match in Review (Orlando City SC) and Preview (Real Salt Lake)
Please excuse me for a minute while I nerd out. I was so pumped with the scores from last match! I know that some may not be happy, but I was excited to see such variety. I would love if it were like this every match!!
We had several regulars who did not put in a prediction (MarcusEarth, robbosg1, and MarcoD77), we had one who proxy predicted (DougCuth) -who’s lineup was hampered by predicting two weeks early but aced the score!-, we had perennial contender Arjon score a 5 (FIVE!), and yet we had recent newcomer, who makes his prediction over multiple posts :P, dfree646 have almost a perfect week (just missed out on the Davies prediction)! That means we had prediction scores range from 5 to 19. What a range!!
But wait, it gets better! Well, not for jacinto. At the start of the second half, I predicted jacinto would be a contender and they did not disappoint. Heading into the final match of August, they were in first place by a considerable margin. But, a bad match (6 points) and a good match by chuckbiscuits (and others) resulted in jacinto being bumped out of first place. I wouldn’t have predicted that as the lead looked too great. Yet here we are. I get to announce chuckbiscuits as the August winner. Congrats. Your prize is in the mail. It should arrive in 3-5 business years.
Now for me to come down from my high a bit and move us forward to Saturday’s contest against Real Salt Lake. I was surprised at how many people predicted Ousted would start in net for the Vancouver Whitecaps at Orlando. I felt it was a given that Marinovic would get the nod. However, I think it is safe to assume that Ousted should start on Saturday; especially with Marinovic just coming back from (successful) international duty. There are questions elsewhere on the field though. Waston played in both matches for Costa Rica. Does he start at CB or do we see Aaron Maund get another opportunity? He certainly played well against Orlando and Robbo likes to start players against their former squads. Does Jake Nerwinski get another start at RB or does Carl Robinson continue to rotate him with Sheanon Williams? Tony Tchani gets back into the lineup. Does Andrew Jacobson start beside him? Many are anxious to see Aly Ghazal and believed he might start in Orlando. Note to everyone though, he is probably still a week or two away from starting. Robbo has done well to manage the minutes of Christian Bolanos this season. With the international games, does Bolo sit this match? I don’t see Fredy Montero sitting two matches, so he should play in place of Erik Hurtado. Does Nicolas Mezquida get another run out? Brek Shea scored (again) against Orlando. What about him? Hard to sit Cristian Techera and/or Yordy Reyna though right?
Making this even more complicated is that the Whitecaps play again on Wednesday night. Robbo has not been afraid to rotate his squad in compressed weeks of late, and it has worked out well for him. I expect him to do that again. The question is, will that rotation come now, Wednesday, or next Saturday? It is a tough call and I am excited to see what you all predict.
One final note, I enjoyed the ‘interval’ scoring, so we are going to do with that again in September. Correctly predict the 15 minute interval that the Whitecaps score their first goal and receive an extra 2 points (for the monthly standings contest, not overall). Those intervals again are 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-75, and 76-90.
GOOD LUCK!
Known Out (will be updated as information becomes available)
Injured: David Edgar, Matias Laba
Suspension: None