Guess the Starting XI and Final Score (MLS Match #17 – Philadelphia Union)

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 (Orlando City) and Match Preview (Philadelphia Union)

Well, that was an exciting match. At first it looked like the Whitecaps would once again choke with the man advantage, only to come back and put up five. Of course, that meant that no one correctly predicted the Vancouver Whitecaps score. However, a few people received one point for predicting Orlando City would score two.

It was a good prediction match. Seems the lineup was obvious to many and, luckily for us, Robbo did not throw us any curve balls. We had four participants (AdamP 17, AmandaC, Arjob, and Jph003) predict a perfect lineup, while 23 of the 29 predictions were a Whitecaps victory. The perfect lineup, coupled with predicting two goals from Orlando City allowed AdamP 17 to edge out the aforementioned three other perfect lineup predictors for tops in this match. 20 points! Congrats.

Arjon’s strong showing in this one vaulted them to a tie with dfree646 for the First Half Standings. With GreyHouseEffect just two points behind the two, it is shaping up to be a great final match and a fight for the podium. Sorry all of us in the 170s. I think we will have to wait until the Second Half to hopefully win a title!

The Whitecaps now travel to Philadelphia, after a two-week World Cup break. The club will be well-rested, and won’t play again for eight days. As a result, I expect another strong lineup. It is an away match, so we might see some tinkering. Kendall Waston won’t be back yet, however, Stefan Marinovic might be working his way back. Mutch made his return against Orlando, so he should be available.

While it is an away match, the Whitecaps have been pretty good on the road, while the Union have not been that good this season. It is a good opportunity for the Caps to pick up another road victory, and extend their unbeaten streak to seven!

Good luck in this final match of the first half. Next match, we turn the page to the second half and the month of July, meaning a new bonus contest!

P.S. I would love if someone would create a great little graphic that we could use for these articles!