Guess the Starting XI and Final Score (MLS Match #31 -Toronto FC)

Welcome to another season of our Vancouver Whitecaps contest “Guess the Starting XI and Final Score”. As is tradition, thanks to former regular Spencer for starting this several years ago. It has grown into a great contest and I am appreciative of him for the original idea. Like last season, we will break the contest up into the three ‘seasons’: first half, second half, and non-MLS. We will continue to have fun monthly ‘bonus’ prediction categories, with some being based on whatever it topical at the time. Last season we had things like “Robbo post-match quotes”, “yellow cards”, “first goal scorer”, and several others. However, to start the season, we will keep March simple. With that out of the way, let’s remind you all how the scoring is done.

Contest Details

• Contest article will be posted 2-3 days prior to game day.
• We will keep track of first half, 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, each half of the season will be based on 17 matches, with your worst two match predictions being dropped. This will allow everyone a few misses or bad guesses throughout the season.
• Predictions will be ‘valid’ if posted HERE 1.5 hours prior to kickoff (or half an hour prior to the lineup being officially announced).

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!

After each match, I will tally the scores and update the standings, which will be posted with the following match’s prediction article. I will post three sets of standings. First, the results from the previous match. Second, the monthly standings. Third, the first/second half standings (with your worst two match predictions removed).

Match Review (FC Dallas) and Preview (LA Galaxy)

The first match in the non-Robinson era went as expected: LA Galaxy victory. However, there were a few surprises. As JStebeck predicted “The major change we might see is tactically…”. The Vancouver Whitecaps came out in a 4-1-4-1, with Teibert playing further up the field. Additionally, the late injury news meant that Mezquida started in place of Reyna. Jph003 was the only one to correctly predict that. Perhaps a more bold prediction was Westsider13’s one of Emnes starting. We all were far too optimistic in the Whitecaps scoring ability (amazing how that has changed isn’t it!), with only our high-point getter AdamP 17 predicting a shutout (more on hims shortly). I think edmondk said it best when he followed their prediction up with “Change my score to 4-1 LA. Ibrahimovic is going to kill us, and I think I’m being generous by predicting even a goal.” Sometimes you gotta go with your gut instead of your heart, like tecate did last match (and noted they were not happy about being correct in this week’s comments).

The big winner this match was AdamP 17, who ended up with 20 points, while his next closest competitors were chuckbiscuits, GreyHouseEffect, Island Life, and The Squirrel, who each had 15 points. AdamP 17 was aided by being the only one to correctly predict the 3-0 scoreline (several of us had 3-1 LA), and correctly predict (and actually write) ‘no scorer’. Congrats!

Turning to the September/October standings, chuckbiscuits and GreyHouseEffect remain tied for the lead at 72, with CascadiaCrunchFC six back at 66. Don’t forget, the contest runs until the end of the season, meaning we are still having the ‘first goal scorer’ bonus prediction. Get it correct and receive an extra three points to your match total. A reminder, if you are predicting no goal scorer, you need to write that.

In the Second Half standings, chuckbiscuits has a two point lead over GreyHouseEffect, with CascadiaCrunchFC three points back, The Squirrel four points, and Isabelt rounding out the top five, eight points back of the leader.

We are making a bit of a change at 86Forever in our pre-match coverage. To reduce repetition and to be more well-rounded, we are going to have three pre-match articles. The first will be this contest, the second will be a scouting report, and the third will be the usual pre-match. As a result, I am going to cease from giving information on the match in this article. Instead, we will post a link to the Scouting Report and Pre-Match in this article, as they become available.

That is all from me. Good luck with your predictions this weekend!